Two To Tango
by overworkedandunderpaid
Summary: Trouble has been stirring up at St Vlad's - trouble that might just derail Queen Vasilissa's hard-won victory for offensive magic. On top of sorting out a new, elusive faction of the Mana, Dimitri has agreed to keep his relationship with Rose discreet while at St Vlads. But really, when you're dating Rose Hathaway, how long can that last? RxD, LxC. M for language and adult scenes.
1. Chapter 1

**I have started a new fic because I am a lazy piece of shit that doesn't want to write the 3000 word research review article on marijuana and schizophrenia that I have due in 8 days. And also, I'm just generally a terrible person incapable of focusing on the one fanfic I've been writing for two years. My apologies about that.**

The drive to the Academy was long, and dull. Just like I remembered. I was watching the trees flash by in a bored stupor as Lissa leaned against me, sleeping peacefully. She had drooled a little against my shoulder, and the two royal guardians sitting opposite us made a pointed show of not noticing. I had already snapped a photo on my phone, excited to add it to my small collection of pictures of Lissa being unstately. Surprisingly, over the course of our long, _close_ friendship, it consisted of about fifteen photos and three short videos.

I glanced at Lissa wistfully, brushing a strand of blonde hair away from her nose. I wished I could sleep right now. She needed it more than me, though, having barely slept in the last three weeks.

 _We had been playing around with a few bridal magazines, pointing out the ugliest dresses possible to ease the discomfort and panic that had been settling over me recently. Lissa had already been through all this with her husband, Christian, but the idea of getting married still really freaked me out._

 _Don't get me wrong, I loved Dimitri, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. To some degree, the idea of a big wedding with a kickass dress appealed to me. I mean, I'm nothing if not a little showy. But at the same time, the feeling of standing up in front of a hundred people in a stupid dress, with an old, dusty priest droning on for half an hour... well, it wasn't my scene._

 _Lissa had been trying to calm me down._

" _You're almost twenty two," she reminded me, as I hyperventilated over choosing colour schemes. "He even waited until you said you were ready. And you were the one who picked the date."_

" _That was last week, Liss," I had snapped, wringing my hands. I had told Dimitri that I was ready, and I'd suggested a date in August. He'd tried not to overreact, probably well aware that it was going to freak me out, but I could see the excitement in his eyes. "I don't know what I was thinking," I moaned._

 _She paused thoughtfully, looking at me in that gentle way of hers. "You know, you don't have to get married." She placed a hand on my shoulder, and I relaxed._

" _You're right," I muttered, feeling my stress ease off. "I want to marry him, though. I love him. It would make him happy."_

" _Will it make you happy?" she asked gently, shifting so that she could rub my shoulders._

" _Yeah," I mumbled, lifting my face to the ceiling. "It's a little bit exciting. I just don't want to mess this up. Or look like I'm trying too hard."_

 _Lissa laughed. "I'll make sure it all works out," she assured me. I felt so much better, and I wasn't completely oblivious as to why. Lissa's compulsion and healing abilities were bordering on freaking ridiculous, and she had used a mixture of both to take the edge off my panic. I frowned at her, and she shrugged innocently._

" _Look at this," she said, grabbing a magazine and waving it in my face. I relented and let her change the topic. "This dress is totally you!"_

 _I snorted and grabbed the magazine, studying the huge chiffon ball that all but swallowed the skinny model wearing it._

" _Could you imagine me fighting Strigoi in that?" I joked._

 _Lissa frowned and shot me a look. "You are_ not _fighting Strigoi at your own wedding."_

 _I laughed, and flipped the page, pointing out another dress._

 _We'd sat there for half an hour, bouncing up and down on Lissa's huge bed, revelling in the alone time that we rarely got these days. Lissa's responsibilities as Queen were endless and overwhelming, and even without the bond I did my best to alleviate the pressure on her. There was no doubt that Spirit made her a great leader, but the stress only made her darkness worse._

 _As usual, we didn't get to enjoy a normal moment for very long. I was used to Christian barging in places looking grumpy – it was practically his trademark entrance – but today he looked stressed. He was running a hand through his dark hair, his usual snarky smirk transformed into a thoughtful frown._

" _Did you hear?" he asked. Dimitri followed him through, closing the door quietly behind him. He gave me a quick glance, and his lips pulled into a teasing smile when he saw the magazine in my hands. I blushed and dropped it._

" _Hear what?" Lissa asked, dread in her voice. Nothing good ever happened at court, especially when the opening sentence was something like that._

" _St Vladimirs!" Christian exclaimed, throwing himself onto the foot of the bed. Dimitri gracefully folded himself into a chair beside the window, cracking open the heavy curtains a little to enjoy the sunlight. It was evening according the Moroi schedule, and from their relatively formal attire, I gathered the two had been in some kind of meeting._

" _What's happened?" Lissa asked fearfully. If we had been in a more public setting, she would have controlled the weary drag of her shoulders, and the despair rising in her eyes. Christian looked at her thoughtfully and took her hand, playing with her jade wedding band slowly. She took a deep breath and nodded for him to continue._

" _There's been some trouble with the offensive magic classes," he began slowly. I sighed impatiently._

" _There's always been trouble with offensive magic," I snapped. I may not take darkness from Lissa anymore, but her mood still greatly influenced my own. Anything that caused her trouble instantly pissed me off, and the old "offensive magic" topic had really been grinding my gears lately._

 _Christian scowled at me. Our relationship was pretty healthy, and I liked to consider us close friends, but it was inevitable that sometimes we could be a little stand-offish. "Not this kind."_

Our car bumped over the rough back road, bringing me out of my recollection. Lissa frowned in her sleep, her hand gripping my crumpled shirt. I ran my fingers through her hair soothingly, and pressed my cheek against her forehead. Every guardian in the royal guard loved Lissa – hell, basically the entire Moroi and dhampir world loved her. Obviously there were some crazy exceptions, and her youth and strange, unexpected ascent to the throne made our job a little tense. Despite that, Lissa had charmed every one of her twelve guardians.

"It's good she's getting some rest," Guardian Abramova commented, brushing a hand over her shaved head. There was concern and pity in her eyes. We were all a little worried about Lissa.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Are we almost there?"

As soon as I asked, I felt the car slow. We were approaching the gates. Eagerly, I leaned into the cold glass, trying to catch a glimpse of the school I hadn't seen in four years. It was almost dawn, but the grey light breaking on the horizon wasn't enough to highlight more than a fuzzy shadow of buildings in the distance. Lissa stirred against me, releasing her hold on my uniform in favour of a stretch.

"We're here?" she asked, voice heavy with sleep.

"Yeah," I answered. I sighed dramatically. "God, I was really hoping I would never have to see this place again."

"Yeah, but now that we're here, guess what else we get to see again?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and I grinned. The other guardians looked away uncomfortably. Christian had left Court two and a half weeks ago to try and bring some authority to St Vladimirs, and hopefully stop the loud voices at Court from criticising Lissa for not dropping everything and "taking care of this disaster she encouraged".

She was the queen, and unfortunately there wasn't a lot of freedom attached to that title. She had appointments backed up for months, and between ruling and college she also had a schedule so tight _I_ could barely breathe. Really, it was a miracle that we'd managed to get here in under six months. But there was, as always, a constant wave of criticism from the royals that had no concept of how Court and the Council really worked. It made me want to kick someone in the face, and unfortunately Dimitri hadn't been with me for the last two and half weeks to discourage that urge.

I looked longingly at the silhouetted buildings. I could hear our driver chatting casually to the guardians on gate duty. They hadn't known when to expect us – a safety precaution was making sure people didn't know what routes we took, or our arrival times. I felt myself growing agitated.

"Can we hurry this up?" I said loudly.

"Rose!" Lissa scolded, straightening in her seat and putting on her queenly façade. I rolled my eyes, knowing she was just as desperate to get through these gates as I was.

A knock on the window beside Abramova made us all jump, although the guardians hid it a little better. Lissa still had her hand over her heart as the window rolled down to reveal the grinning face of Guardian Alberta Petrov. I tried – unsuccessfully – to repress a smile.

"Well, well, well," she said slyly, glancing around the cabin. "A royal guard. Are you bringing Hathaway in chains?"

I grinned and touched a hand to my red trimmed lapel as modestly as I could manage. "Sorry to disappoint, Guardian Petrov, but it won't be our usual disciplinary meeting."

Alberta squinted at my uniform, and smiled. I had no doubt she'd been informed of my position in the royal guard, but she pretended to faint against the side of the car anyway.

"God forbid that Rosemarie Hathaway protects our future," she joked. Then she schooled her expression into a more acceptably polite smile and turned to Lissa. "Your majesty," she greeted. "We are honoured by your visit. I'm sure you'll want to rest and settle in tonight, but I will need to debrief your guardians, for your safety."

Lissa nodded, smiling her queenly smile. "I understand," Lissa agreed. That was fine for her to say – she wasn't the one sitting in a car being drooled on for the last four hours.

"Perfect." Alberta glanced at the guardians in the car. "I'll catch up and show you to my office in the administration building." She stepped away from our car and waved us through.

I was more excited than I was willing to admit, and not only because Dimitri was on the other side of these gates. St Vlads had been my home for almost all of my life. There had been some crazy times behind these walls, and a lot of surreptitious eyerolls and heavy sighs from my teachers. I was looking forward to parading around in my badass royal guard uniform.

The administration building was, in my opinion, the ugliest addition to the Academy. It was one of the new modern buildings on the grounds, and whatever architect had designed the blocky white monstrosity deserved to hang. Lissa was eyeing it with similiar distaste as we approached.

"At least you don't have to sit in it for the next hour," I muttered, bumping her with my shoulder. "You get to jump in bed with pyro while I listen to a boring debriefing."

Lissa placed a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, but at the mention of her husband, she couldn't stop herself from smiling. "If it's any consolation, I'm far too exhausted to do anything more than collapse for the next few hours."

But as our car rolled to a stop and I helped Lissa out of the car, I could practically feel that consolation slip through my fingers. Christian was waiting for us, hiding from the dawn in the shadow of the admin building. I rolled my eyes as Lissa gripped my hand excitedly, attempting to act as queenly as possible.

Christian grinned and winked saucily at his wife, and I rolled my eyes again. At this rate, my retinas would detach and I would be blinded for life. At least I wouldn't have to watch these two get it on across a courtyard.

Then again, I also wouldn't be able to see Dimitri, leaning casually against the building, feet from Christian, face turned to enjoy the grey sunlight breaking through the clouds. His duster swayed gently in the breeze, and strands of that dark, silky hair played across his face. His eyes were closed, and his arms were crossed, and he was wearing more clothes than I liked, but the outline of his powerful body was clear to me, even from this distance.

In a remarkable show of self-control, I didn't bolt across the courtyard and jump him against the wall. I settled for exhaling sharply and running a hand through my hair in frustration.

He opened his eyes slowly, and cast a lazy glance across to our car. Dimitri had perfected his guardian mask years ago, but he couldn't help the smile that pulled at his lips for just a second, or the heat I saw flash through his eyes. He allowed himself a moment to let his gaze travel languidly down my body, and the way he looked at me made me feel naked. I wished I was wearing something sexier than my uniform.

"Lord Ozera," Lissa greeted formally, curtseying when we stopped before the two.

Christian bowed in return, his gesture significantly more overdramatic. "My Queen," he returned. Propriety demanded that the two do nothing more that touch hands in public, but Christian was too much like me, and not at all considerate of the norms of high society. His social indiscretions had been hot gossip at Court on many occasions.

Almost before you could blink, Christian had Lissa wrapped up in his arms as he peppered her face with kisses. As guardians, we all pretended we didn't notice.

Dimitri was purposefully avoiding my gaze, and I knew why. We had to be appropriate, and the last time we'd been reunited after two weeks apart, I had teased him incessantly with seductive smiles and surreptitious winks. Of course, that night I had been off duty, and wearing a scandalous red dress…

I was studying him carefully, trying to hold back an impish smile as I recalled how many things we had broken in our apartment afterwards. Dimitri glanced at me quickly, and I could see the same thoughts burning in his eyes.

I shivered.

"If you're cold, Hathaway, perhaps we could head inside and get started?" I glanced back at Alberta as she approached. Lissa and Christian were being led away by two Academy Guardians. I hadn't even noticed them approach, I'd been too invested in my appreciation of Dimitri.

If I had been anyone else, I might have blushed.

Alberta led the way through the front doors. There were eleven of us, in total. Lissa's other three guardians were probably moving luggage or something – to be honest, I preferred a boring debrief than bellboy duty.

I noticed Dimitri slowing to walk by my side as we started up some stairs. We were at the back of the group, and the burning look he shot me made me drop my gaze. I was happy to tease him most days, but that look told me he was pretty close to the edge. I counted the steps as we climbed, pretending not to notice the heavy warmth spreading from my lower stomach, or the rapid pace my heart had settled on.

We were only a few feet behind the group, but it already felt alarmingly private. As we reached the second floor, I started to speed up. I needed to put some distance between us, or something extremely inappropriate was going to happen.

Dimitri had other ideas. He quickly appraised the group of casually chatting guardians before grabbing hold of my wrist and pulling me aside. This building may be ugly, but the sharp, protruding corners made great hiding places.

"What are you-" I gasped out.

Dimitri's lips found mine hungrily.

I gripped his shirt and pulled him against me, and he pushed back, pinning me against the wall. His kisses were dominating, his hands almost bruising as they travelled my body and tangled in my hair, pulling gently.

I was senselessly lost, breathing in his cologne and sweat, feeling the heat of his chest through his shirt, kissing down his neck. I forgot how to breathe when he rocked his hips against mine, groaning in pleasure while I struggled with the buttons on his shirt.

"No," he managed, pulling my hands away. He took a step back, his eyes wild, and ran a hand over his face. "Not right now."

I scowled, remembering where we were. "Well, you shouldn't start things you can't finish," I scolded. I was flushed, my breathing was heavy, and I knew my expression was filled with challenge. I knew there was nothing that turned him on like that.

He stepped close again, putting his hands on my hips and pulling me against him so I could feel his arousal. I closed my eyes as he brushed his lips along my jawline, brushing a soft kiss behind my ear. My pulse raced, and my head fell back, my hands resting helplessly on his shoulders.

"I missed you… I promise I'll finish this later."

He walked away from me like it was nothing. I gaped after him for a moment before pulling myself together. Grumbling quietly about how unfair my life was compared to Lissa's, I followed him until we caught up with the other guardians.

They were all chatting, apparently oblivious to our brief disappearance.

Alberta's office was bigger than it used to be – almost as big as Kirova's had been, which made me wonder what kind of vast interior disaster the principal worked in now. The debriefing was relatively short, and said little about the reason we'd come here in the first place. It seemed Alberta was leaving that for the big assembly happening tomorrow evening.

We were informed of the recent security breaches, the layout of the academy – for the benefit of those guardians that hadn't grown up here wreaking havoc – and what was expected of us during our stay. As usual, assigned guardians had to pull their weight while on Academy grounds, which meant patrols, and apparently assisting with the education of young dhampirs.

We finished with Alberta telling us that we had tomorrow off, but there would be opportunities for us to visit classes and talk to the novices about our experiences. I rolled my eyes, but I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to scare the shit out of some teenagers, so I promised Alberta I would show up to Stan's midday class.

I was fidgeting by the time we were finished, unable to stop myself from catching sneaky glimpses of Dimitri, admiring the way he had positioned himself so gracefully in a chair. The silver stake glinting from underneath his duster gave his professional demeanour a sexy, lethal quality.

It was a relief when Alberta said we could leave. If Dimitri and I weren't in a bed in the next few minutes, I was going to settle for that chair.

"Hathaway, Belikov, I'd like to speak with you before you go."

I groaned, and dropped back down into my seat. Alberta raised her eyebrows, but her lips twitched in amusement. She leaned against her desk, her ankles crossed, as the other guardians filed out of the room quietly.

"Am I ever going to get some sleep?" I grumbled. Alberta either missed or chose to ignore the meaningful glance and mischevious smile that Dimitri shot me.

The door closed as the last of the guardians exited.

"Obviously, I am aware of your relationship," she began, cutting straight to it. I straightened, surprised.

Dimitri raised his eyebrows. "Obviously?" he asked. "We weren't trying to hide it."

Alberta nodded. "I know. That's what I need to talk to you about. St Vladimirs has known you both, in the past, as student and mentor. As you can understand, there's quite a stigma around here, and although you may be rather open about your relationship at Court, I think…" she hesitated, considering her next words carefully. "I think a degree of discretion would be less likely to cause trouble."

Dimitri was nodding thoughtfully.

"I cannot force you to hide this relationship," she continued. Her tone was apologetic. "But I would advise that you be as inconspicuous as possible. Given your history, I think it would be wise to keep some people on this campus in the dark."

"You want us to pretend we're not together?" I asked incredulously, moving to the edge of my chair. Alberta shifted uneasily.

"I would suggest it as a more appropriate option," she admitted. "There are quite a few people on this campus that would react negatively, and we don't need more complications at the moment."

"Screw them!" I exclaimed, standing. "I don't give a damn what kind of stigma they've got! We're not hiding our relationship just because some old acquaintances have a problem with it!"

"Rose," Dimitri murmured, "I think she might be right."

I looked at him disbelievingly. "What?" I asked, my voice dangerously low.

"I agree with you," he said earnestly. "We shouldn't have to hide. But this is a fight we should probably avoid. It's not like Alberta is asking us to act cold to one another, just refrain from any public displays."

"I am _not_ sneaking around this campus like I'm fucking guilty of something!" I snapped, crossing my arms. Dimitri's eyes hardened, the corners of his mouth turning down slightly. I tossed my hair as a challenge.

"No one's asking you to," Alberta interjected. "I can't control either of you. But, as Dimitri said, the best fight is one avoided. There are too many people here that will disapprove of your relationship, and they have better reasons than any royal fool at court." She paused, letting that sink in. I was still angry, although I could see her reasoning.

Dimitri and I had been targets for gossip for a long time at court, and those were people that hardly knew us, people that were upset on the grounds that we were both Guardians. The people here… well, they had been my teachers. They were going to be even more likely to view our relationship negatively, and they were the people we were going to be spending the most time with over the next few weeks. I still didn't like it though.

I was shaking my head, even as Alberta continued. "I am not asking you to do anything dramatic, I'm just making a suggestion that would make everyone's lives easier."

"What about all the students here that live at court?" I argued. "It's not like St Vlad's exists in a bubble. Someone is _bound_ to know about us. It won't take long before the entire school knows."

Alberta fixed me with a calm stare that made my skin itch with irritation. "And the staff won't pay any attention. They'll assume the gossip is just that – gossip. If your relationship does become public knowledge, I hardly think it will be a tragedy. I was merely pointing out that this school is already seconds from exploding, and we don't need to be adding any fuel to that fire." She directed her next comments to me. "If you're strongly opposed to restraining yourself publicly, Guardian Hathaway, I won't fight you on that. You can choose to handle this situation however you see fit. I was just offering some advice."

I hadn't taken my eyes off Dimitri, but my aggression had eased. I didn't like it. I still wanted to say no. I opened my mouth to tell Alberta that, with all due respect, everyone else on campus could stick it where the sun don't shine, and my relationship was nobody else's business.

Dimitri spoke first. "I think it's a good idea," he said determinedly, ignoring my sounds of protest. "We'll keep everything discreet and professional."

I gaped at him, astounded. Did he just agree for both of us? Alberta thanked us both – even though I hadn't agreed to a damn thing – and then ushered us out of the door. She'd known me long enough to know when a storm was coming, and this one was going to be a fucking hurricane.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hahahaha I'm still procrastinating, so here's another chapter.**

I moved through the corridors of the administration building quickly, Dimitri following me like a shadow. I wasn't usually one to avoid making a scene, and it was taking all of my willpower to keep from turning on my heel and demanding an explanation.

But no. Alberta and Dimitri had agreed that our relationship should stay quiet. So I wasn't going to make a scene – yet.

We passed a few staff members on our way through the building, most of whom offered friendly greetings to Dimitri as we passed. I noticed one of two admiring looks directed his way by the female staff as well, which didn't serve to assuage my seething anger.

Dimitri answered every greeting with a quick word and a smile before hurrying along after me as I steam rolled ahead. Honestly, I didn't even know where I was going. Maybe the gym would serve as a quiet place for me to lose my shit.

With that in mind, I headed for the doors. Unfortunately, they were automatic, so I didn't have the opportunity to express my rage via a dramatic exit, or even get the satisfaction of slamming the door behind me. Dimitri still followed close behind me without a word.

We'd been through this kind of argument several times over the last four years, and I knew that to some degree, he appreciated the effort it took for me to stay silent, to contain my anger until we'd reached an appropriate setting. I couldn't recall directing this much anger at Dimitri in a very long time.

But as we walked towards the gym, my brain worked over the situation in a surprisingly lucid manner.

By the time we entered – and thankfully I did get a dramatic entrance owing to the building's age – most of my anger had melted away. It had been replaced by a calm, cruel plan to make Dimitri suffer. And the second I turned to face him, I could see the resignation in his eyes turn to fear.

"You're… very calm," he observed after a moment.

I smiled serenely. "Well, what good is arguing going to do me? I assume I won't be able to change your mind."

"No."

"Well then, there's nothing for it. I guess we'll just have to pretend we're nothing more than friends, right?" My voice was dripping with forced sweetness, and Dimitri took a cautious step closer.

"That's not really what we –"

"Oh, here," I interrupted, pulling my engagement ring off my finger. Dimitri looked on, astounded and speechless. "That would bring up a lot of awkward questions."

I dropped the ring into his open hand, and watched his caution give way to incredulity. "You can't be serious?" he asked quietly.

There was a stab of pain in his voice that almost made me reconsider. Almost.

"It's not permanent," I assured him quickly. I wanted him to suffer, but not like that. "It's just that I don't want to lie to people when they ask me who my fiancée is. And let's be real, I'm infamous enough on this campus for people to ask questions." I shot him a cheeky smile that I hoped alleviated his concerns. I actually seriously doubted if anyone besides a few guardians would remember me.

He regarded me for a moment, obviously struggling between what he knew was a reasonable argument, and the desire to keep that ring on my finger. It'd taken him a long time to put it there, and I was sure it wasn't easy for him to let go of that victory.

"Okay," he grumbled, slipping the ring into a pocket on the inside of his duster. "But we're still engaged, right?"

"Duh."

He frowned reproachfully at my response. "And you agree to… keep us discreet?" He struggled with the words, and I wondered if it had anything to do with the weight of that ring in his pocket. Maybe he was only just realizing what he'd agreed to. Dimitri was a reasonable man, and Alberta had made some good points. But deep down, he was just like me in a lot of ways. I knew that hiding our relationship like it was a sin wasn't sitting well with him either.

"I'll play whatever part you want," I answered, forcing a smile.

He seemed to relax then, closing the distance between us and pulling my arms away from my chest gently. I hadn't even realized I'd crossed them.

"I don't want you to play a part, Roza," he whispered, pulling me into a hug. "We don't have to lie, or act like we're nothing more than friends. We just don't need to give anyone a reason to think we're more than that."

"But we are more than that," I grumbled into his chest. "I love you."

"I love you too," he reassured me, squeezing me tighter. "But Alberta's right. Even though I was only your mentor, people here might view it negatively."

"It's not like it's any of their business. We're adults, they're adults… I just don't see why they can't deal with it."

I pulled back to observe Dimitri's smirk. "Well, you grew up with the guardians in this place. These teachers have known you their entire lives. Not to mention the new guardians here that were novices with you."

"Your point is…?"

"Do you really think all of them are mature-minded people? That they will all handle this with grace and courtesy, and understand that our relationship is none of their business?"

I paused, considering some of the people I knew in this place. I thought of Stan Alto, with his fiery disposition that sometimes led to inappropriate outbursts, and smiled when I realized how similar our tempers were. Then I frowned when I thought about how he might react to Dimitri and I. I thought about the guardians Dimitri had mentioned, the ones that had been novices with me. How many of them would understand the finesse of our relationship? How many people would see our time at the Academy as scandalous, sinful, and maybe even illegal? How many people would see the loopholes we'd used to stay together as excuses?

Alberta was right. The guardians here were already on edge. Everyone was on the verge of exploding. Something like this could very well set off one of the teachers that had watched me grow up, or start a juicy rumour amongst the guardians I'd gone to school with.

I hated that she was right. I hated that Dimitri made some good points. I glared at him, and knew that he hated it too.

"Fine," I spat angrily. I pulled myself from his embrace. "I'd already agreed anyway."

Dimitri seemed to recognize that he'd made a grave mistake in disrupting the calm acceptance I'd shown previously. He spent a moment hopelessly working through his options, looking for a way to calm me down.

Apparently, he settled on seduction. It had been a sure-fire way to distract me in the past.

"Roza, please." He closed the distance between us again, cupping my face in his hands. "You know I don't want you to be angry."

He brushed a light kiss against my lips, which I refused to return. He paused for only a moment before taking my coldness in stride.

"Roza." The way he said my name so deliciously made my body tingle, and my hard expression must have given way just a little, because he offered me a slow, promising smile. "What can I do?" he breathed, pressing another kiss against my lips.

I relented and kissed him back, just enough to let him know I loved him, that I was interested. But I was in control.

My passive resistance seemed to confuse him – it wasn't like I could fight Dimitri's charms on a regular day. Usually I could hardly control myself. If he'd offered me that smile fifteen minutes ago, I would have been hard pressed to keep myself from ripping his clothes off.

He sighed, and pulled away. "I'm sorry," he offered simply.

I relaxed, knowing how genuinely he regretted this – and knowing how much he was going to regret it in the days to come. "Come on," I answered, touching one hand to his cheek, "we should get some sleep."

His expression took on that sexy, mischievous quality that made my knees weak as he considered my words. "Of course, Guardian Hathaway."

Our walk back to the administration building was quick and full of tension. It was only when Dimitri recognised my trajectory that he began to slow, confusion flickering across his expression.

"Rose, why are we going to the administration building?" he asked lightly, covering the distance he'd lost in two strides. "You know our room is that way?" He gestured with a nod towards the Guardian dorms.

I schooled my expression into one of polite confusion. "Our room? But Comrade, we're supposed to be keeping it on the down low, right?"

Dimitri hesitated, but I wasn't sure he understood the full impact of my words. To be fair, some part of me was considering just grabbing a key for the sake of the façade, and heading back to his room for the night. I'd been rolling around in an empty bed for way too long.

The office we needed had been pointed out by Alberta on our way through, and luckily Dimitri had been paying more attention than I had, because he led us to the office without faltering.

Dimitri's expression was still unsure as I knocked on the door, and a young Moroi answered timidly. He provided me with a key and map – which I knew I was going to throw away the second we walked out of the building, but I accepted anyway – and gave me my room number.

I collected my luggage on the way out the front door – apparently I had to cart my own bags across campus, unlike Lissa. Thankfully, I'd packed light.

I noticed the smile on Dimitri's face as we started our walk across campus to the Guardian dorms.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" I asked suspiciously.

"No reason," he replied, shrugging his shoulders casually.

As it turned out, Dimitri had a pretty good reason for that self-satisfied smile. When I got to my room and unlocked it, I was planning on throwing my bags inside, kissing Dimitri goodnight, and watching him walk forlornly down the hallway away from me. Yeah, it might be a little hard for me to execute, but ultimately I wanted him to pay for the decisions he'd made today. A little celibacy might do us both some good.

But when I turned around, Dimitri wasn't hovering at my door like I'd planned. He wasn't even in the room, or lounging on my bed.

No. Dimitri was across the hall, standing in the frame of the doorway exactly opposite mine, a beautiful, victorious smile plastered on his gorgeous face. The door was open behind him, and I caught a glimpse of the old western he'd been meaning to make a start on for the last month, sitting on the nightstand.

"Oh. I see we're neighbours," I commented casually. My heart was beating wildly against my chest. I hadn't planned on having temptation this close. And good God was he a temptation.

He'd already thrown off his duster, his white shirt slightly crumpled after a full day on duty. His hair was making a defiant attempt to escape its constraints, soft strands falling into his chocolate eyes. And that smile… there wasn't a man on earth more arrogantly self-assured, or more powerful. Something about Dimitri looking so casual had always gotten me hot and bothered. I gripped the frame of my door determinedly.

"Did you want to come over?" he invited. There was a sly glint in his eyes that let me know he hadn't been fooled for a second. The moment I'd made it clear that I was getting my own room, he'd figured out my plans.

And now he was going to play my game.

"Actually, I'm pretty tired," I lied, my entire body vibrating with the desire to dart across the corridor. I made no move to retreat into my room, and neither did Dimitri.

His smile grew, and he leaned himself languidly on the doorjamb. "I understand. But you do have the day off tomorrow. You could always catch up on sleep later." The look he shot me was simmering with the promise of a wakeful night in his bed.

"You don't have the day off," I reminded him breathlessly.

"It'll be worth it."

He was willing to go on shift without sleep. He was being reckless. That was the moment I realized exactly how much power I had over him.

I faked a yawn and stretched, fighting off the urge to accept his invitation. There was no denying the burn in my veins, and the buzz in every nerve that was urging me to cave. I wanted him, but not as much as he wanted me.

"Sorry Comrade, maybe some other time."

I glimpsed the surprise on his face just before my door clicked shut.

* * *

Lissa was frantic the next morning.

Alberta might have given me the day off, but duties as the queen's best friend were endless.

"You've practiced this speech a million times," I assured her. "You're going to be fine. And if you're so worried, just spend the next few hours practicing."

I'd been trying to calm Lissa down for the last three hours – I had to make it to Stan's Guardian Theory class in ten minutes, but I didn't have the heart to leave Lissa tearing her hair out. I'd texted Christian to come as back up five minutes ago, but so far firecrotch hadn't made his usual sullen appearance.

"It's not about practicing, Rose, it's about the content!" she exclaimed, slapping the sheets of paper before her. "This is the first speech I've given that wasn't written by someone else, or thought up on the spot! What if I offend someone?"

I shrugged. "So some royal twits get their panties in a bunch, big deal."

Lissa shot me a disapproving glare and pursed her lips. "This is serious, Rose."

I sighed heavily and dragged a hand down my face. I didn't have the energy to pretend I cared about some pimply high school royals getting sore about a perfectly polite speech. I'd spent all night agonizing over my decision to remain celibate, even though my fine ass fiancée was willing and only ten feet away.

Thinking about Dimitri's perfect ass distracted me briefly, before Lissa's groans brought me back to reality.

"Look, you're the queen. They're a bunch of high schoolers. So what if they're royal? They're the ones who made this mess, and I personally think you're being too nice to them. You wouldn't believe the kind of punishment novices would face if they'd tried to pull shit like this. They certainly wouldn't get a visit from her Royal Majesty Kindness and Compassion."

I plucked the papers from Lissa's hands and turned to her fireplace – because of course, the queen got a fireplace. I tossed the speech into the flames before Lissa could stop me, and watched them burn.

"Are you insane?" Lissa exclaimed, her fingers clutching at the air, like she could summon the ashes back to her with sheer willpower.

"Probably," I answered. I turned and seized her shoulders. "You'll do fine, Lissa. Just tell them the truth. I know whatever speech you give tonight, it will be perfect." I gave her a reassuring squeeze and pulled her into an embrace.

After a moment, Lissa relaxed into my hug. When we broke apart, she laughed, and the sound was filled with relief. It wasn't in her nature to do things without planning meticulously beforehand, but in my time as her bridesmaid – and in our time as best friends – I'd learned that sometimes Lissa needed someone to force her hand before she could let go of things.

"You're right," she mused, sitting herself on the divan at the foot of her bed. "You're always right about stuff like this."

"Of course I am."

Lissa gave me a grateful smile, and I sank down onto the divan next to her.

"You've got to help me pick out a dress for tonight," she informed me, leaning her head on my shoulder. I shook my head indulgently – I couldn't imagine the kind of speech she was going to give tonight, or why on earth she would want to do it in a dress. But that was royalty for you.

I imagined again the kind of gathering that would have ensued if it had been novices behind these events, and I almost laughed aloud at the thought of stern Alberta, presenting herself in a ballgown at a fancy dinner to slap some wrists for reckless behaviour.

"Of course I will." I wrapped one arm around her shoulder comfortingly. "But only if you help me pick out which Guardian uniform I should wear. The black one with the white shirt, or the black one with the white shirt."

Lissa laughed again, and it was only when Christian slipped quietly through the door that I remembered I had somewhere to be.

I hastened through my apologies to Lissa, and promised I would be back in an hour. Christian stood, smirking at me without saying a word. His uncharacteristic silence put my teeth on edge – there was definitely something up – but I didn't have time to grill him about his suspicious behaviour.

I flew down the corridor, out of the guest dorms that were used almost exclusively by royal visitors, making my way across campus in record time.

As it turned out, it wasn't fast enough.

By the time I reached Stan's class, I was out of breath and the entire class was seated in silence, listening to Abramova, of all people. I wondered what story she was recounting. I peered through the window, squinting to make out the faces of the other guardians in the room. In the back, I could see Dimitri. I cursed under my breath, and straightened my jacket.

The door opened before I even touched the handle, and I was greeted by a face I'd hoped would never look at me like I was a disappointment again.

"Guardian Hathaway," Stan greeted coolly. "I see that it's true what they say about old habits. They do die hard."

As usual, Stan's wrath, when directed at someone else, elicited sniggers from the class. I almost turned around and left. I hadn't signed up for high school all over again.

Instead, I straightened up and gave Stan a brazen grin. I tried with all my might not to say anything snarky, but it was a damn struggle not to comment on the walrus mustache he'd grown in the last four years.

"My apologies, Guardian Alto. I was caught up with the Queen."

A curious silence fell in the classroom, and I could see Abramova fighting her smile. She was a pretty hardcore woman, and I was sure I'd interrupted one hell of a story, but the novices were far more curious about the queen.

I glanced around the room as Stan moved aside, allowing me to enter. There were plenty of Guardian faces in the back that I recognized, and most were smiling indulgently. There were only one or two faces that I recognized amongst the novices, but as I moved to the front of the room beside Abramova, I got the distinct, uncomfortable feeling that they _all_ recognised _me_.


	3. Chapter 3

**And another, because I am still procrastinating. Secretly, I will never stop. You will all suffer through my fanfics until I die.**

I was right. There hadn't been a soul in that classroom that didn't know who I was. I mean, I knew I'd been infamous in my time at the Academy, but I'd reluctantly admitted to myself a long time ago that my hype would have died out by now. Apparently, I was wrong.

I'd had plenty of stories prepared to tell the class, each with its own strong undercurrent message of caution, and camaraderie with the other Royal Guardians. I'd actually been looking forward to regaling them with the typical stories.

But these novices were little shits. They didn't care about my recent adventures or accomplishments. They wanted to hear stories that were about the glory of battle, or how great it felt to kill Strigoi. They wanted to hear about Spokane.

And Spokane wasn't something I was ready to talk about.

There was a tension in the back of the room as soon as one of the novices, a black haired kid with muddy brown eyes, shot his question across the clamour of students all asking similar questions; "What about Spokane?"

"Mr Phillips, raise your hand if you have a question," Stan spat. "And that goes for the rest of you." He glared across the room, and the noise died out immediately. A few hands shot into the air, including Phillips. I ignored him, and picked the only girl in the room, a blonde sitting right in front of me.

Maybe it was the blonde hair, or the sweet smile, but I trusted her. She betrayed me.

"Could you tell us about your first kills?" she asked bluntly.

The fact that she'd said "kills" instead of "kill" led me to believe that everyone in this room had heard this story.

I remained silent for long enough to allow whispers to break across the classroom. I was speechless. How could they want me to talk about this? Was it fair? Were they allowed to ambush me like this? I looked to the back of the room for help, but the Guardians there were avoiding my gaze. Only Dimitri met my eyes, and his were full of helpless irritation.

"Is it true you killed, like ten Strigoi with a knife?" Phillips asked from the back.

"What?" I blustered, focusing my attention on the novice. "Where the fuck did you hear that bullshit?"

"Hathaway!"

"Sorry Stan, won't happen again," I apologized. He didn't reprimand me for using his first name, which made me smile just a little. The tension seemed to ease. "It was two Strigoi, and it was a sword. I'm pretty sure no Guardian has ever killed ten Strigoi with a knife."

Despite the obvious anti-climax, the novices seemed awed. Maybe they'd assumed the whole story was a fairy tale, and any semblance of truth amazed them.

I spent the next twenty minutes in a blow-by-blow recitation of the events in Spokane. I amazed even myself when I calmly recounted Mason's death, and the profound impact it had on me at the age of seventeen.

Only one comment was made about Mason, and it made my blood boil. A boy at the front of the class offhandedly mentioned that Mason had died because he wasn't a good Guardian – that any guardian worth his salt would have survived, like I had.

"I mean, there _were_ two of you. You could have taken out two Strigoi pretty easily." His arrogance wasn't borne of any ill-will, but rather his complete inexperience with Strigoi.

"Mason Ashford was a great novice. He beat me in hand to hand combat almost consistently up until Spokane. He would have been an excellent guardian." I could feel Stan beside me, his animosity for this kid growing with my own. Mason had gotten in trouble with me on numerous occasions, but Stan had always had a soft spot for him. "Sometimes, it's not about how good you are. It's about how lucky you are. We die fast out there, and sometimes the only reason you survive is because your best friend just died for you."

I levelled the novice with a condescending glare, and watched him prickle at my next words.

"Mason Ashford was my best friend. And he was sure as hell a better guardian than you."

Of all the bad habits I couldn't break, starting fights in Stan Alto's Guardian Theory class was definitely my most infamous.

The novice was fast, I'd give him that. And he was one hell of a hot head. He didn't manage to land his punch, mostly because I'd seen it coming just in time to duck out of the way, sending him swaggering towards the whiteboard. Stan caught him in a headlock before I had the chance to exact any retribution, and took him to the ground in seconds.

No one else had even moved.

I laughed, exhilarated. It had been a _very_ long time since someone had surprised me with a punch. Most of my fights these days were well organized spars, where I was expecting every hit.

"If anybody else wants to try and hit me, I'll be at your afternoon prac class," I joked. The class tittered awkwardly, and after Stan released the novice, he shot me a glare that could have withered prunes.

I took his murderous expression as a sign that I should take my leave, and excused myself from the class, muttering vague nothings about assisting the queen.

If possible, I ran back to Lissa's rooms faster than I'd run to Stan's class. I wasn't one hundred percent sure he wasn't going to follow me out of the classroom and send me to Kirova's office, just like the good old days, and I sure as hell was sticking around to find out.

I found Lissa and Christian, huddled together on the bed making doe-eyes at each other, and I got the impression from the rumpled state of their clothing that I'd just missed the fooling around part of their day.

"Ugh!" I exclaimed, shielding my eyes for dramatic effect. "Please, spare me this gruesome sight!"

Lissa giggled, and slid off the bed, but Christian fixed me with a look filled with dry humour. "Why? Just because you're not getting any?"

I dropped my hands and gave him a withering look. "I see someone's been having way too much happy-chatty-friend time with his Guardian," I shot back.

"Yeah, well _somebody_ had to comfort him after your cold shoulder last night."

"It's nothing he didn't deserve," I sniffed.

Lissa laughed as she opened the doors to her vast wardrobe – thankfully, she'd only brought enough clothing to fill a quarter of it. Unfortunately for me, most of the clothes were dresses that I knew I'd be spending the next two hours sorting through.

"So I hear," Lissa threw over her shoulder. "I can't believe you guys have to go through this again."

I'd long since gotten over the fact that due to the close friendship that had developed between Christian and Dimitri, absolutely nothing happened in any of our relationships without everybody else hearing about it. I didn't even bother to ask Lissa how much she knew – I knew that by now, pyro would have told her everything.

"Well, it's not quite the same," I admitted. "We just have to be 'discreet and professional'." I made a face as I repeated Dimitri's words.

"Discreet and professional means that you're allow to have sex though, right?" Christian pressed. "Just not publicly?" I tossed the pillow from the divan at his face.

"Like that's any of your business," I retorted.

"It's my business if you've got my Guardian all tied up in knots because his fiancée isn't wearing her ring, and refusing to so much as kiss him."

"That's a lie, I kissed him yesterday."

"You're not leaving him, are you?" he asked jokingly. Underneath that dry humour I sensed a little bit of concern.

"Rose could leave Dimitri as easily as she could cut off her own arm," Lissa scoffed, saving me the indignity of professing my love for Dimitri to Christian. "Stop being an ass."

Christian seemed satisfied, and let the matter of my devotion to Dimitri slide. "But you know, you could have sex with him. Because I'm not particularly looking forward to constantly hearing about this celibacy competition you two have started. I mean, I see the man literally every day, and if you haven't noticed, he doesn't have a lot of friends to talk to about this stuff."

I put my hands on my hips as Lissa began heaping dresses onto the divan. "I'm not having sex with him," I said stubbornly.

Lissa paused and shot me a doubtful look. "Really, Rose? How long do you think that's going to last?"

The disbelief in her eyes had me scowling. "As long as I say it will. I promise, I'm not going to have sex with him until that ring is back on my finger."

Lissa laughed. "I used to think you would _stop_ having sex with him if he'd dared 'put a ring on it'."

Neither Lissa nor Christian believed me capable of remaining celibate. If I hadn't always had such poor impulse control, I might have actually thought about how difficult it was going to be, given that Dimitri and I were living across the hall from each other. But I didn't think about that. I just bridled at the humour in their voices as they mocked my self-control, or lack thereof.

"I'm serious."

The two of them stopped chortling away, and Lissa looked at me, surprised.

"If I have sex with Dimitri before this is over, I'll let you dress me for every social event I attend outside of my Guardian duties for a year."

Lissa's eyes almost misted over as she considered the possibilities. "No... You'll let me pick your wedding dress."

I hesitated for a moment, thinking back on what Lissa had pointed out in those magazines three weeks ago.

Lissa waited patiently, watching me turn it over. It was Christian that put the final nail in my coffin. "What's the matter? Afraid you can't do it?"

"Done!" I exclaimed. Lissa took my hand firmly in her own and gave a sharp shake.

It was when the expression of utter delight broke across her face that I knew.

I'd really fucked up this time.

* * *

The formal dinner was a shockingly sober event. Every Moroi on campus was in attendance, and dressed to the nines. Some of the royals even looked as though they'd tried to outdress Lissa.

We'd ended up deciding on a simple, formal wrap that accentuated her tall, slender frame. She looked so graceful moving through the students, I felt like I was practically lumbering behind her. Christian walked beside her serenely, with Dimitri shadowing him silently. The rest of the royal guard surrounded us in a ridiculous show of pomp and ceremony. But all the same, I was on high alert.

We were here for a reason, and that reason was the quite real danger present somewhere in this group of Moroi. Maybe they weren't a threat to Lissa – after all, they hadn't made their intentions clear. In fact, we weren't even sure if the group known as the Mana had even resurfaced. Maybe what we'd heard was really just a rumour…

I glanced at Dimitri and Christian. No. They wouldn't have brought Lissa halfway across the country if they'd thought there was even the possibility of it being "just a rumour".

Dimitri caught my eye, and I relaxed a little. As much as I was concerned about the Mana, and on high alert for any threats to Lissa, having Dimitri beside me was a tiny bit distracting. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about the deal I'd made with Lissa. Dimitri had been at the final practical class of the day, and I'd attended just to scope out the ability of some of the novices. Given that the Guardians were usually a little less tense when they were looking after senior novice classes, Dimitri had come to chat with me about my performance in Stan's class.

Overall, he'd found it amusing. We'd had a bit of a laugh together, and watched the novice that had tried to punch me – Novice Elliott, as we discovered – move quickly around his opponents.

It had only taken a few moments for the humour in Dimitri's eyes to turn into something else, and obviously recognising the danger of standing so close to me in public, he'd excused himself quickly and returned to his position against the wall.

The prac session had seemed a little dull after that.

I tore my eyes away from him now, and quickly structured my frame of mind around doing my job. I was glad to have Dimitri by my side, in case anything did happen to threaten either Lissa or Christian.

We moved through the crowd at a frustratingly slow pace, but I knew that Lissa's attentions were being given to everyone, and not just the prominent royals in the crowd. After half an hour, I got the nod from Abramova to speed things along.

"Your Majesty, it's time for the speech," I murmured to Lissa, stepping close enough that only she and the young Moroi girl she was speaking to could hear.

Lissa politely excused herself, and allowed us to sweep her through the crowd and up onto the dais.

I knew that to the crowd of Moroi below, she looked stately, and calm. From my place three steps behind her, I could see her hands shaking on the blank palm cards she was clutching. She shot me a quick glance, and I gave her an encouraging nod – a little tradition we'd started with every public speaking event.

A hush fell over the gathered Moroi, and Lissa's hands stopped shaking.

"Welcome.

"If this event were taking place at Court, or even at a different Academy, this speech might go a little differently." A whisper of discontent rustled through the students. "But I was a student at this Academy, just like you. The late Queen Tatiana visited during my time here too, and I remember standing where you stand now, only four years ago.

"Many of you here today were present the day the Academy came under siege by Strigoi." There was a stillness amongst the students that could only be outmatched by the heavy silence from the Guardians lining the walls. "Most of you, I would imagine, were too young to understand how the wards were broken, or to see much of the fighting. I would hope that you all remember the men and women we lost, both Dhampir and Moroi alike.

"I would hope that all of you would do everything in your power to stop such a thing from happening a second time, and I am here to tell you how.

"Four years ago, a group of royal Moroi began a group here at Saint Vladimirs. They called themselves the Mana –" a louder murmur rippled through the crowd, and students turned to whisper to one another "– and it was by their doing that the wards were weakened, and the Strigoi were able to enter the Academy." Lissa sent a long, hard look into the mass of students, and they began to grow still again. "They were the same age as you are now, and their arrogance and cruelty cost the lives of so many people that we had come to love. They had no intention of causing serious harm, but they had no idea the kinds of magic they were dealing with."

Lissa's charisma had moved everyone in the room once again, and even I wasn't unaffected. The Mana had been the catalyst for a lot of devastation, including the fateful rescue mission where Dimitri had been turned. It took all my power not to turn and seek him out. Of course he was still behind me. He was there.

"We are aware that the Saint Vladimirs Mana faction has been reformed, and I have come to you personally, as someone who has seen the tragedies that can unfold in the wake of such organisations, to ask you to let it _die_." The striking anger in her final words sent a chill down my spine. Christian, from his place beside her, lay a gentle hand on the small of her back even as I reached out to her. I could almost feel the tension leaving her body.

"I hope you all enjoy your dinner."

There was a buzz of confusion in the room as Christian led Liss down from the dais. It had been a very abrupt dismissal.

I didn't need to ask Lissa if she was alright. I could recognise the effects of Spirit darkness anywhere. She'd been doing so well lately, carefully balancing the amount of Spirit she'd been using, but it was always bound to catch up with her.

"Let's get you back to your room," I muttered, taking her free hand in mine.

"But the banquet," she protested meekly.

"Screw the banquet, they'll be fine without you. I'll bring you something to eat. Do you need a feeder?" Christian asked, hovering attentively at her side.

I gave a quick jerk of my head to let Abramova know that we were heading out of the building. A few quick signals from her caused three other guardians to break off the walls and join us as we discreetly stepped out the back door, into the light.

"Do you think I got through to them?" she whispered to me as we made our way along the covered walkway.

I shrugged. "If they have emotions, then yeah, you'd hope so. But this Mana isn't like the one we dealt with when we were eighteen," I reminded her. "They're a lot smarter than Jesse, that's for sure."

"And our offensive magic program has given them all the ammo they need," Lissa muttered hopelessly. She wilted at my side, and I slipped my arm through hers to keep her upright as Christian did the same on her other side.

"The offensive magic courses are _very_ clear about the conditions under which Moroi are to use their skills," Christian whispered fiercely.

"But it's still our fault," Lissa lamented.

"Look at the Novices," Christian continued angrily. "They teach them to use guns when their fourteen, for crying out loud. If they can teach a bunch of fourteen year olds that using the weapons at your disposal is only acceptable in certain situations, then Moroi should be able to learn it as well." He paused a moment, chewing his lip. "I knew we should have made the physical defense classes compulsory. They wouldn't be taking it so lightly then."

"It's too late for that now," Dimitri interjected, walking close to Christian's side. "We'll just have to deal with whatever comes our way."

Dimitri and I made eye contact briefly, and I could almost feel his concern. We didn't know what the Mana wanted, we didn't know who they were. Hell, we barely knew what they were capable of, but one thing was certain. If they were after Lissa, we'd given them the perfect opportunity.


	4. Chapter 4

**Four chapters in under twenty four hours... I'm totally sacrificing my review count by updating this fast. I hope you know that.**

 **WARNING: M-rated. Enjoy.**

"What are the odds that they're after her?" I asked stubbornly, perched on the end of Dimitri's bed.

"It's not about the odds, it's about the risk," Dimitri argued, pacing in front of me like a caged animal. "We should get her out of here."

"We couldn't even convince her not to come in the first place, Dimitri, how do you propose we go about convincing her to leave now?"

Dimitri flung his hands in the air in a rare show of physical expression. It only happened when we were alone, and it let me know just how frustrated he was with this situation.

"We tell her she's done all she can and she needs to head back to Court. She is the queen, she has things to do," he muttered, unconvinced.

"She hasn't seen any results yet. If the Guardians stop finding evidence that the Mana is working here, she'll leave. Until then, she'll only be going back to court to face the criticism of the Royals who think this is all her fault." I played with my hair absentmindedly, knowing that Dimitri wasn't going to budge on this argument. We'd both been round and round in this debate, ever since Alberta's alarming report had reached Court.

She'd prefaced the report by saying she'd been holding her peace until there was more solid evidence, but the fact was that Moroi students were showing up to the infirmary, bruised and battered. There were higher incidences of students being caught attempting compulsion. Pools of blood being found out in the forests, close to the wards…

And then the beatings had taken a turn for the worse. A seventeen year old boy had almost died, and all signs pointed towards severe damage inflicted by elemental magic. Not a single victim of the Mana seemed to remember anything about what had happened to them, and even though I found that alarming, I had to admit that compelling your victims to forget a beating that severe was better than telling them to convince people they'd just taken a fall.

Nothing the Guardians had done had allowed them to track down a single member of the Mana – something that confused and alarmed everyone involved. It was almost as if we were chasing ghosts.

I stood up and put myself purposefully in Dimitri's way, forcing him to halt in his tracks.

"There's nothing we can do to convince her to go home. She'll be here until we sort this mess out."

Dimitri took my hands in his and began rubbing circles into the back of them. "And what if that's exactly what they want?" he asked. "What if they're going to try and assassinate her?"

As many times as that thought had occurred to me, and as much as it freaked me out, I shook it off. "There are a dozen Guardians looking out for Liss. Nobody is going to be able to touch her. The Mana know they'll never be able to take on Guardians."

Dimitri considered my words then tried a different approach. "What if this _is_ all because of the offensive magic courses?"

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Then I agree with Christian. They obviously need to crack down on teaching these kids responsibility. Novices learn from a very young age which situations are appropriate for aggression. Maybe we should make them take it more seriously."

Dimitri sighed in exasperation, and I had a feeling he was a hairs breadth away from rolling his eyes at me. "You and I both know that Moroi are never going to learn how to be responsible the way Guardians are. It's not their lives on the line."

"Then maybe it should be," I shot back, knowing even as I said it that it bordered on heresy.

Dimitri squeezed my hands to bring me back down from my hot headed exclamations. "Hypothetically, let's say we put the same stress on responsibility in the Moroi offensive magic class as we do in the novice prac classes. How do you think they're _ever_ going to take that seriously when their punishment for starting a torture ring is a visit from the Queen and a banquet?"

I grumbled a curse word under my breath, slammed with the same argument I'd used against Lissa earlier in the day. The worlds of the Moroi and the dhampir were _very_ far apart.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked, sitting back on the bed.

Dimitri shrugged and sat down beside me. " _We_ can't do anything more than advise Lissa and Christian to head back to Court, and when they refuse, we either rope them up and drag them back, or we stay here and do everything we can to keep them safe."

"I like the idea of roping them up," I admitted. "I think I'd get a lot of satisfaction out of that."

Dimitri laughed, and the mood lightened considerably.

I contemplated it further and shook my head. "Nope, I can't really think of anything better than gagging Christian so he can't run his mouth."

"Really, nothing better?" Dimitri asked silkily, one arm snaking around my waist.

I smiled and let him shift closer to me to press a kiss to my shoulder. I was craving some physical contact, even though my deal with Lissa wasn't too far from my mind.

"You know I can't have sex with you," I informed him.

He hummed noncommittally and continued placing soft kisses across my shoulder and up my neck. I wasn't entirely convinced he'd actually heard me.

"That is nice though," I breathed, losing myself to his touches.

I almost didn't notice when he started on the buttons of my dress shirt.

"Is it really so important that you prove your point?" he whispered, maneuvering us so that I found myself leaning back onto the bed while he hovered over me. "I know you're angry with me, but I promise I can make it better."

Excitement fluttered in my stomach at his words. "Really? I think it better be damn good."

A gentle nip at my neck sent the butterflies careening. "It will be," he murmured huskily.

His fingers made quick work of the buttons, and my shirt was off in seconds. The cold air on my skin was doing nothing to bring down the temperature between us.

"I like this bra," he commented casually, tracing his fingers along the edge of the red lace.

"You're tickling me," I huffed playfully, slapping his hand away.

"Sorry," he muttered, smiling as he seized my hand and pinned it to the mattress above my head. "Maybe you'd prefer me to be more direct?"

His free hand cupped one breast as his lips came down over the red lace, kissing lazily. He took his time, gently massaging my body into a state of arousal. In less than a minute he was dragging every breath out of me like it was my last, my free hand working its way into his hair, urging his lips closer.

His fingers worked over my hardening nipple, the other succumbing to those hot, wet kisses he was laying upon it.

"More," I whispered hoarsely, trying to free my hand from his. He tightened his hold on me, pressing the length of his body against mine to keep me pinned, but he obliged.

The scratch of lace over my bare skin, and the heat of his hands and mouth had me panting. Gently, he took my nipple between his teeth, sending shocks of pleasure rocketing through my body.

Where his mouth was gentle, his hands were rough, quick caresses and squeezes that betrayed his desperation as he moved his hand down across my stomach to start work on the buttons of my dress pants.

I knew that if I was going to put a stop to this, I'd have to do it now.

But good _God_ did the man know how to use his hands.

A moment of indulgence almost cost me my sanity when his fingers slipped underneath the fabric of my underwear. A single long stroke of his fingers caused a moan to fall from my parted lips. He paused, lifting his head to watch me for a moment.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured, his eyes alight with wonder.

"We should probably stop," I groaned half-heartedly, his words making me less inclined to halt his advances.

He gave me a dazzling smile coupled with another gentle stroke of his fingers, nearly making my heart stop. I thrust against his fingers, looking for the friction he was denying me.

"You don't seem so sure about that, Roza."

Frustrated, I closed my eyes and fought for any shred of willpower I had left in my body. Dimitri knew me well enough to keep me from finding it.

"Just give up, Roza," he whispered teasingly, circling my clit with just enough pressure to make me squirm and gasp. "You know you'll never win."

Dimitri loved a challenge, and the thought of teasing a fight out of me was too irresistible. He wanted to make this a victory, one he could be smug about for the next few weeks. Even knowing his game, I couldn't help but fall into the trap.

"M-make me," I stuttered, levelling him with my best challenging glare, his fingers working more rhythmically against my sex.

The answering fire in his eyes had me forgetting my deal with Lissa – hell, if he hadn't been whispering my name I might've forgotten that too.

We both knew I was lost to him as soon as I'd answered, so he dragged my orgasm out of me slowly, agonisingly, reveling in his triumph.

His fingers moved teasingly, occasionally delving shallowly into my slit, drawing the wetness out of me with every teasing penetration. Mostly his focus was on my clit, where he knew he could control the pleasure he gave me. I tried to increase the friction by moving against him – something I knew got him hopelessly aroused – but with no luck. He was being careful. He wanted me to suffer.

My breaths were short and shallow, my body fighting for the climax he was promising, but not delivering. My head was spinning with the pleasure of his fingers, and now his kisses against my bare flesh, less disciplined than his hands. Every frenzied thrust of mine was matched with a searing kiss somewhere on my exposed skin, the only indication that he was slowly losing control. And I knew just what to say to send him over the edge.

"Please Dimitri," I panted, catching his gaze with my own. I didn't need to make myself look more desperate for his benefit - I was pretty sure my lustful intentions were written all over me. "I need you to make me cum."

He wavered, a dark determination stealing over his expression. With three expert strokes of his fingers, I was arching against him and crying out with the pleasure that exploded through me, firing from every nerve all the way down to my toes. My body tensed with the overwhelming sensations, my thighs tightening over his fingers instinctively and trying to lock him in place.

He let me come down from my high slowly, showering kisses across my cheeks and collarbone.

"That was incredible," I breathed, holding him against me now that he'd freed my other hand.

He hummed in agreement, his body pleasantly heavy over mine. "Would you like to continue?" he asked politely. He wasn't expecting a refusal. He knew I was hot and desperate for more, as usual. But tonight I was going to surprise him.

"No, actually."

He paused before pulling away, allowing me to sit up.

"Are you alright? Did I hurt you?" he asked, checking my body quickly for bruises. I laughed, but I wasn't that surprised by his concern. I was practically insatiable, and sometimes we did get a little rough. Dimitri had been pretty gentle with me so far.

"No, I'm fine," I insisted, waving away his gently probing hands. "I just…" I glanced at him forlornly. "I made a deal with Lissa. I said I wouldn't have sex with you or she gets to pick my wedding dress."

Dimitri processed this information the only way a man could – slowly. "For… for how long?" I could see the hopelessness in his eyes. "Until the wedding?"

I nearly had a heart attack. The wedding was just under nine months away. No wonder he looked so despondent. "Oh God no," I reassured him, "only until this is over." I waved my hand around the room to indicate the Academy situation then started to button up my blouse.

He frowned. "Did you happen to make this bet when you were still angry with me?"

"What do you mean when I _was_ angry with you? I'm _still_ angry with you."

A smile tugged at his lips, and he edged closer to me. "You didn't seem too angry just then."

I pushed him away gently, and stood to re-button my pants. He watched my progress thoughtfully, but made no moves to stop me.

"Well then, obviously I'm going to respect your wishes," he continued slowly. "No matter the cost. I promise I won't have sex with you either." A hand hovered over his heart, and his expression was so solemn I had to chuckle to myself. He cracked a smile at my mirth before pulled me back into his lap. I could feel his erection tenting – no doubt uncomfortably – against his pants, and had a momentary flash of guilt. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to make you crazy, Hathaway," he breathed, running his nose gently along my jawline. "I'm going to tease you until you can't stand. No more orgasms for you."

I laughed shakily, trying to rid myself of the notion of Dimitri actually _trying_ to make me crazy. The man could do that with his clothes on, his hands to himself, and his mouth shut. His promises filled me with anticipation.

"It's on, Belikov."

"Bring it, Hathaway."

* * *

The night was long and lonely. Dimitri and I had promised to keep the beginning of our little competition until tomorrow – and we'd both promised not to tell Lissa or Christian about his late-night escapade into my pants. I wasn't sure what Lissa considered "sex", but I sure as hell wasn't going to take chances.

I was pretty sure Dimitri wouldn't care what I was dressed in, so his concern regarding my bet with Lissa had less to do with the dress, and far more to do with the fact that I was actively involving myself in something to do with the wedding. He wasn't about to ruin _that_.

The next morning I dropped by Lissa's room for a quick visit before my shift. Ordinarily, I would have filled my free time with a quick workout with Dimitri, but he'd been on shift since four in the morning, and there wasn't a damn thing that could possess me to get up that early.

Lissa and Christian were still in bed when I knocked on their door, but thankfully, they were fully clothed.

"Good morning," I said slyly, jumping onto the end of their bed. Lissa drew up her legs to give me more space, and eyed me suspiciously.

"You seem unusually chipper for eight in the morning," she commented.

"Yes, well, Dimitri and I had a good talk last night."

Christian coughed into his fist to cover his exclamation. "Bullshit!"

I pulled a face, and made a grab for the newspaper he was perusing. "What are you, a seventy year old? Sitting in bed in your pinstriped pyjamas, reading the Times?"

He ignored my jab and continued reading with a dignified sniff.

"You just need some reading glasses and a cup of water for your dentures."

"What's in the bag?" Lissa asked, coming to the rescue of her husband.

"Chocolate donuts. You want one?"

Lissa froze, her suspicion growing. She crossed her arms over her silk pyjama top and gave me a serious look. "Rose, you never share chocolate donuts."

I fumbled for an answer. "I do too. You're just not normally around when I still have some left over."

She raised her eyebrows skeptically. "'Left over'?" she asked, like it were a foreign phrase.

I clutched the bag to my chest defensively. "I sometimes have leftovers…"

Christian coughed another 'bullshit' into his closed fist, and fixed his deadpan stare on me. "Sorry, I think I'm coming down with something."

"You might want to get that checked out. At your age, you can't be taking any chances." And with that I rolled off their bed and took my donuts with me.

"You better not have had sex, or I get to choose your dress!" Lissa called after me. I closed the door quietly and pulled a donut from the bag.

"You're better than sex," I reassured it lovingly.

* * *

By the time I got to the first class of the day, I'd polished off all six donuts and was satisfyingly full. I took up my place in the back of the class, and exchanged some friendly words with two Guardians I recognised from my Novice days.

Moroi and dhampirs filtered into the room, their early morning conversation surprisingly lively. I doubted these kids were all going for early morning jogs, so I wondered what they could have been talking about that had them so fired up.

"I'm telling you, it was intense," a Moroi girl was saying to her dhampir friend. "She's amazing. And if I knew anything about those 'Mana' people, I'd try to help."

The dhampir girl was the same blonde from Stan's Guardian Theory class. She seemed subdued as she took her seat next to her friend, nodding along absent-mindedly.

"Maria? Are you listening to me?" the Moroi girl pushed, touching her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, the Queen, the Mana. I got it," Maria answered. She shot a look over her shoulder to where the Guardians stood, and lowered her voice, whispering something quick to her friend that, even with my ears straining, I couldn't catch.

The Moroi girl turned quickly in her seat and gave us all a startled look, as though she'd forgotten that Guardians observed every class.

A Moroi teacher I didn't recognise swept into the room, and the girl busied herself with straightening out her books.

The class was intensely boring – some dead languages class that I just knew I would have slept through if I'd had the chance. Every student seemed tuned in, however, even the dhampirs. I watched on in stunned silence, and when the class was dismissed, I turned to the Guardian next to me.

"Are they always like that?" I asked as the students began to file out the door.

"Like what?" he asked, shifting on his feet. There was another shitty dead languages class following this one, and soon it was just us and the old Moroi teacher whose name I'd already forgotten – along with most of his lecture material.

"Do they always pay that much attention?"

"Didn't you pay attention in school?" he asked. Then he appraised me quickly and seemed to remember who he was talking to.

The students began filing in for the next class, and we fell back into a professional silence. This was a much younger class, and I couldn't imagine any of them sitting still long enough to hear any part of the lecture the teacher was attempting to give.

Again, I was surprised by how studious they all were. There was still a fair bit of whispering and note passing that went by unnoticed by the teacher, and a few girls giggled in the back corner closest to us, but otherwise there was a generally respectful atmosphere.

Even I found myself half listening to the lecture, although I didn't understand most of it. I was sure it was a remedial class for juniors, but I'd never had much of a head for languages.

When the bell rang, I thanked God that I had a posting in the gym. Yeah, it was with the junior class again, but I was hoping they were going to head out to the range and have some target practice.

No such luck.

It was bitterly cold outside – an exciting prospect for the students, who knew that it meant Christmas break was almost upon them, but very disappointing for me. For one thing, it meant that we were working with a deadline.

I was distracted from my moody thoughts as I walked through the gym doors and saw Dimitri with three other Guardians, standing stiffly against the back wall. Dimitri caught my eye and offered me a swift, tight smile, but otherwise maintained his blank façade.

He didn't look tired – somehow he never did, until he got home and started falling on all available furniture – but I knew he was well into his eighth hour of this shift. I made my way over to him, careful to keep my expression casual and friendly. I greeted the other Guardians first, shaking hands with the one I hadn't met before and introducing myself.

"I hear you're a part of the queen's guard?" the Guardian asked, his voice heavy with a Russian accent. He was well into his fifties, and had a nasty scar along the side of his neck that looked suspiciously like something had tried to tear his throat out.

"Yeah, the Queen and I have been friends since we were five."

He sniffed disdainfully. "Must be nice, to be given such a position because of friendship."

I arched my eyebrows, and held onto his hand for a moment, tightening my grip as a challenge. "Actually, I graduated top of my class."

He considered my hand in his and cracked a smile. "Of course you did," he answered jovially. He clapped his free hand on my shoulder. "Brave girl."

I moved to Dimitri, a little confused, but pleased I'd earned this strangers approval. Dimitri gave me a sly glance before returning his attention to the room.

"Do you like Guardian Komarov?"

"Do you know him?" I asked, not all that surprised. At this point in our relationship, I didn't know if there was anyone in the Guardian world that didn't know Dimitri.

"Not personally, but I've heard of him. I did an assignment on one of his missions when I was sixteen."

I raised my eyebrows and let out a quiet whistle. "That good, huh?"

"No actually, the opposite. The mission was deemed a failure."

"That must have made for an interesting introduction for you then."

He allowed himself another tight smile. "Well, he's heard of me as well. There aren't a lot of reborn Strigoi wondering around."

I schooled my surprised expression into something more professional. "A _really_ interesting introduction." I let a moment slip by in silence so that the other guardians had a chance to start talking among themselves. "What are you still doing up, anyway? Hasn't your shift finished yet?" I couldn't help the concern colouring my words.

"Well, the instructor broke his finger this morning, and he hasn't been let out of the infirmary, so here I am."

I chuckled, trying to imagine any Guardian confined to a hospital bed for a broken finger. "Why you?"

He shrugged. "Because I volunteered." The final bell rang, indicating that students should well an truly be in their classes, and it was time for the teaching to begin. Dimitri sighed. "Have fun guarding my class."

He pushed off the wall and I found myself standing shoulder to shoulder with Guardian Komarov.

"I heard he was you mentor," Komarov mentioned casually, watching Dimitri marshal a group of fourteen year olds for basic drills.

"Yes, he was."

"He must have been good, to get a girl graduating top of her class."

I shot him a disdainful glare he only seemed to find entertaining. "I know that's not generally how things work in Russia."

"True, but we don't have seventeen year olds single-handedly beheading two Strigoi either."

I smiled indulgently, finding myself the object of fascination for the second time in as many days. It seemed no matter how much I accomplished since I was seventeen, I would never outlive the legend that was my first kills. At least not at St Vlads. "You heard about that, did you?"

"I like to do my research."

We lapsed into silence, slipping into a more appropriate Guardian mode. I was watching the back exit, but couldn't help watching Dimitri out of the corner of my eye as he went along correcting the form of the junior novices.

His class was pretty successful, although junior year was more about repetition than any actual fighting. They were just learning basic hits and blocks, perfecting their hand to hand combat. If it had been warmer, they might have had an opportunity to play with some firearms, but a gun was only a very small piece of a Guardians weapon repertoire.

When the class was wrapping up, I turned to Guardian Komarov. "So why were you doing research on me anyway?" I asked casually, as though it hadn't been bothering me for the last hour and a half.

Komarov shot me a bewildered look, as though it should have been obvious. "I was looking into Guardian Belikov. I heard he would be coming over from Court, and I could hardly miss the opportunity to meet him."

He didn't elaborate any further, but I doubted my name had caught his attention if it had only been mentioned in reference to our professional relationship. Komarov definitely knew that Dimitri and I were involved, but he didn't really strike me as the gossiping type.

I offered Dimitri a nod of recognition as he headed out the door with a swarm of students. I knew he was going back to his room to read for a little while, and maybe catch a nap. I was tempted to join him, but my shift didn't formally end for another two and a half hours.

I sighed and settled myself in for Moroi P.E class that was bound to be nowhere as riveting as basic drills. Who knows, maybe they were going to do some gymnastics or something.

Damn, I was really looking forward to rounds tomorrow night.

* * *

 **I don't usually bother requesting reviews, 'cause I'm not really here for that, but I wouldn't mind some love. ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Your concern for my lack of assignment doing is touching. So I read the assessment outline, and now I think I deserve a break. Here's a chapter.**

The next three days passed quietly, a blur of boring shifts, patrols, and Dimitri-less nights. We'd been rostered on opposing shifts almost consistently, and our overlapping free time was mostly brief lunch breaks or in the wee hours of the morning.

We'd managed to get in one morning spar in which Dimitri had put me to shame. Admittedly, I was coming off the end of a six hour night patrol around the Moroi dorms, and he was refreshed from a full night of restful sleep, but my pride didn't seem to know that.

Thankfully, on the Friday, I was assigned to be Lissa's guard, and I sank into my casual role at her side with a sigh of gratitude. Night patrols were really no better than classes, and the shifts were long and dull. I'd never truly appreciated the amount of work academy Guardians put into not falling asleep during their fifth calculus class of the day.

Lissa was on her laptop typing away at an e-mail to Adrian, who was off somewhere in the world exploring or painting things, with Sydney by his side. Not surprisingly, Lissa had been pretty busy in her time here – I knew she made at least three conference calls a day to her aides at Court, rattling off lists, instructions, and answers to their thousand and one questions.

It was a busy life, being the Queen.

Thankfully, in six months she would complete her political science degree at Lehigh, and then she'd hopefully have some more spare time.

I watched her brow furrow as she deleted some text, muttering to herself angrily. I hoped that she would at least be less stressed. I knew one thing that might reduce her workload, however.

"You know, I've been thinking," I began carefully, pretending to browse through some gossip magazine from the coffee table.

"Hmm?" Lissa answered, not looking up from her laptop.

"There really haven't been any… incidences since we got here. With the Mana." She stopped typing and watched me curiously. I flipped a page casually. "Dimitri and I were thinking that it might be time to head back to Court. You and Christian are really safer there, and the Academy is about two weeks away from Christmas break, so there won't be much to do here."

Lissa smiled wearily, and closed her laptop without bothering to send her email. "You know I can't do that," she answered softly. "The Mana may be quiet for now, but until Alberta is satisfied – which I know she isn't – I'm not going anywhere."

My brow furrowed in irritation. "What do you think you can do about it? The presence of the Queen on campus isn't exactly helping the situation. It's just stressing you out more, and we're not fixing anything."

"Are you sure this about _me_ being stressed, and not about the fact that you're sick of being celibate?" she ribbed playfully.

I frowned and put down the magazine. "This is serious, Lissa. I'm _being_ serious. I think you would be better off heading back to Court. I know you came here to satisfy all those idiots saying this was your fault, but you've done that now. What more do you want to do here?"

Lissa pursed her lips, but her eyes were fixed resolutely on mine. "I'm staying."

I narrowed my eyes as I gauged her reaction. "What's going on?" I demanded, wishing for the thousandth time since the bond had been broken that I could still read her mind. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing!" she exclaimed, reopening her computer. "I'm not up to anything!"

"Oh come on, Lissa, I'm your best friend. And you're a terrible liar." I added after a moment of deliberation.

She pointedly ignored me, her fingers tapping away slowly at the keyboard.

"If you don't tell me, I'll get the entire Royal Guard behind me and we'll force you back to Court," I warned her. My threats were relatively empty, but Dimitri's suggestion of hog-tying the two royals was still sitting pretty in the back of my mind.

"You wouldn't do that," Lissa replied indignantly, her fingers pausing. "And besides, you wouldn't be allowed to."

"I wasn't allowed to sneak you out of this Academy when we were fifteen either, but I managed that." She stared blankly at her screen for a moment without responding, and I made my way over to her, perching myself on the edge of the desk. "I care, Liss. And I want to keep you safe. If you have a good reason for staying here, I'll support you. I just want to know what's going on."

She looked up at me uncertainly. "I'm not sure you'll think it's a good enough reason," she answered slowly. "It's pure speculation at the moment."

I nodded encouragingly.

With a deep breath, she plunged into it. "Christian and I were going over the incident reports regarding the suspected Mana activity, looking for some answers. When we got to the interviews conducted with the kids that had been beaten, we both thought it was a little strange that they couldn't remember what had happened."

I shrugged. "Compulsion."

"That would have to be some pretty strong compulsion," she said dubiously. It took me a moment to figure out what she was hinting at.

"You think there's a Spirit user involved?" I asked incredulously. "Lissa, I know it's strong compulsion, but it's not Spirit level compulsion. A regular Moroi with a bit of skill could have pulled it off as well. It's not out of the realm of possibility that it was just a kid that had a knack for it."

"I agree, but it's also possible that there _is_ a Spirit user involved," she said imploringly, searching my face for some sign of concession. Her shoulders dropped with disappointment as she muttered her next words. "It's been a year since we found the last one, and he had no interest in learning about Spirit."

I didn't say it out loud, but I thought maybe that was a good thing. Peter had been a good, sane kid. Messing around with Spirit would have thrown him right off balance. He'd opted to start anti-depressants to repress his abilities rather than travel to Court and learn how to wield his weird and frankly terrifying magic.

"There's a _chance_ that there's a Spirit user here, and they might be in charge of the Mana," Lissa pushed.

"I suppose," I answered dubiously. "But the teachers have been monitoring students that don't specialise for two years now. If there was a potential Spirit user in St Vlads, we'd know about them."

Lissa shook her head. "What if they'd just transferred? If they'd come from a small school that didn't bother reporting things?"

I didn't want to disappoint her, but I couldn't stop the slow shake of my head. "They would have to choose their advanced element course when they got here."

"But what if they're young? What it they're still in general classes?"

I let out a short, harsh laugh. "You think a twelve year old is in charge of the Mana?" Lissa crossed her arms defensively and glared up at me. "Liss, I know you want to think there are more Spirit users out there, but even if you're right, do you really want to be associated with one that's going around arranging beatings?"

"I might be able to help them," she answered stubbornly. I threw my hands up in surrender, and hopped off the desk. I knew how important it was to Lissa to find Spirit users. Despite her overwhelming responsibilities and overburdened schedule, she always found time to look through any reports on potential users across the country. I truly didn't want to disappoint her this time, but I really doubted that she was on the right track here.

"If you want to stay until Christmas break to see if you can find this Spirit user, that's fine by me. But don't get your hopes up – I still think there's a better chance of it being a kid that specialised who knows how to compel people." Lissa stuck her tongue out at me as I made my way back to the magazine. I paused at the divan, looking back pointedly. "And if you don't find them, and there are no more Mana incidences, we head back to Court in two weeks. Deal?"

Lissa hesitated for only a moment. "Deal."

* * *

The afternoon was at my leisure, and though I would ordinarily have spent it hanging out with Lissa, her afternoon was filled with conference calls and queenly duties.

Instead of the nostalgic stroll around campus that I'd planned with my best friend, I found myself down in the gym. It was after school hours, but there were about thirty Moroi students of different ages milling around the practice mats.

I glanced a second time at the text from Christian that had brought me down here. It was short and simple; _Come to the gym. Should be interesting._

I scanned the large room for any sign of Christian and caught sight of him sitting casually on a balancing beam that someone had pushed unceremoniously against far the wall, watching the Moroi critically. With a shake of my head, I made my way over to him, offering nods of acknowledgement to the on duty Guardians hovering at the edges of the gym.

"Took your time getting here," Christian commented as I got closer.

"I was on shift," I explained, taking a seat beside him. "Your wife has been emailing and conferencing all day."

"Well, you haven't missed anything," he muttered. He was scanning the students carefully.

"What's going on here?" I asked, although I thought I could hazard a guess.

"One of the Moroi offensive magic classes. It's only taught two days a week, after school." He appraised me quickly then offered me the brown paper bag he was holding in his right hand. "Cookie?"

"Hell yes." I was a little disappointed that they were raisin, but I wasn't going to decline free food. Especially since I hadn't eaten since this morning. "I thought you were looking at making classes a part of the curriculum. Like, properly."

He made a face, and delicately nibbled at a raisin on the edge of his biscuit. I grabbed another one from the bag. "Yeah, we wanted to integrate them into advanced elemental classes, but the teachers put up a fight."

"So what are we doing here?" I asked, as I polished off my third cookie. Christian gave up and handed me the whole bag.

"We're observing."

I rolled my eyes and plundered the bag. "I thought you said this was going to be interesting."

There was a serious air about him that was suppressing his usual snark. "We're watching them," he said, nodding to the students. "If the Mana is using the things they're being taught here, we need to know."

I thought back on my discussion with Liss. "If you think the leader might be a Spirit user, they wouldn't be participating in these classes," I murmured.

A few Moroi teachers that I recognised as the advanced elemental staff had entered the gym, and were moving among the students. There were a few pinched faces, and I didn't have to wonder which ones were opposed to offensive magic.

Christian shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Some members of the Mana are probably taking these classes. Their whole ideology is about how they're entitled to use their magic however they want. I don't think they'd pass up the opportunity to learn how to do that."

Our conversation died as the Moroi teachers called for quiet. The students were instructed to write their names down on the paper provided, and separate into their respective elements. There were only two excited youngsters that stayed milling aimlessly in the centre of the room, and they were quickly dismissed.

"Why did they get rid of those kids?" I whispered to Christian.

"They haven't specialised," he hissed back. "They can't teach them anything."

I raised my eyebrows. "But they could learn the theory. Learn how to use their magic responsibly."

But as it turned out, none of these kids were learning how to use magic responsibly.

There was a brief introduction from one of the teachers with a pinched face, in which he drawled through a compulsory reading on safety and responsibility. His disdain for the whole procedure was obvious, and it set a few of the students to tittering amongst themselves. There were entire groups of students whispering excitedly to each other, and not one of the teachers made a move to refocus them.

The teacher concluded his reading and folded the paper carelessly before tucking it away in his pocket. One bland look at the students and he must have known none of them had heard a word of it. He shrugged and gestured to the other teachers to begin.

Christian's fists clenched tightly over his knees, and he drew in a sharp hiss of air.

The rest of the class would have been called chaos, if anything of substance had even been happening. The teachers seemed disinterested in actually _teaching_ any kind of finesse or control, and they allowed their students to fling elemental magic at allocated targets – a practice dummy, or bullet traps that had been propped carelessly against the walls.

Most of the students seemed to be revelling in the opportunity to use their magic so carelessly, or were taking the opportunity to engage in casual conversations, but there were a few faces screwed up in concentration.

I doubted that anything they were doing would ever actually do any damage.

Christian seemed to have the same idea. "What are they doing?" he hissed. "They're not learning anything but how to be reckless!"

"Well, at least you don't have to worry about your offensive magic classes aiding the Mana," I whispered back, watching wide eyed as one senior sent a target paper flapping off to the ceiling.

"The teachers are just standing there, talking!"

As they were. They'd all abandoned their students and were gathered around the door of the gym, through which a tall dhampir had just entered.

I don't know what they were saying to him, but Dimitri was shaking his head. He lifted a hand and calmly pointed out Christian and I, sitting on our balancing beam in the far corner. The head teacher turned to follow Dimitri's gesture, and when his eyes settled on Christian, all the blood seemed to drain from his sour face.

Christian offered him a jaunty wave that was at odds with his murderous expression, and the teacher spun back on his heel, spitting out instructions to the other teachers.

Dimitri seemed amused, and he carefully picked his way through the mayhem of students towards our seat.

"I take it they didn't know we were watching?" I asked him as he sat beside me. He was careful to leave a few inches of space, and I smiled at the fact that I was sitting closer to Christian than he was to me.

"They had no idea," he confirmed. "They're trying to pull it together now, though."

"I think I'm going to take over this class," Christian muttered angrily. I put a hand on his shoulder and forced him to stay seated.

"Give them a chance to show you what they know," I urged him.

The teachers turned out to have a disappointingly small amount of knowledge on offensive magic. They'd gathered the students into small groups, and stood, papers in hand, reading out instructions to the students that were still paying attention.

Christian dropped his head into his hands. "They don't know what they're talking about," he groaned. "They haven't even read the suggested class plans. They were just letting the students do whatever they wanted and sending attendance reports back to Court."

Even I was struck by how irresponsible it all was. Regardless of how they felt about engaging in offensive magic, they should have taken their roles as teachers more seriously. But then again, I mused, eyeing the target paper that had gotten caught in the rafters, it wasn't like these kids were going to do any damage.

"This is ridiculous," Christian snapped. A click of his fingers sent a line of fire across the floor, ringing around the different groups of Moroi like he was corralling cattle. One student let out an embarrassing shriek that rang through the gym, and the Guardians at the back of the room pulled their stakes, ready to spring into action.

Just as quickly as they'd appeared, the flames vanished, the only evidence that they'd been there were the smoking scorch marks that lined the wooden floor.

"Christian Ozera!" one teacher scolded. She looked like she was a breath away from sending him to the principal's office. Christian eyed her coldly, and she reconsidered.

"Come on," he said to us. "We're wasting our time here."

Dimitri and I followed Christian through the stunned students and blustering teachers, and the door of the gym slammed behind us.

I laughed into the cool night air. "Now _that_ was an exit."

* * *

 **And really, thank you for all the reviews.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I laugh a lot when I type 'me' instead of 'my'. It's like everyone is suddenly a pirate.**

 **Long chapter. Another tiny bit of M(?) rated stuff close to the bottom.**

Christian's anger didn't subside for hours, even over dinner. He stabbed aggressively at his food, and ate less than usual – even for a Moroi. We'd tried taking him back to Lissa, but she'd been busy sorting out something for a council meeting that her aides would be attending tomorrow. I glared at Dimitri sitting opposite me and he shrugged an apology. I'd wanted to leave Christian with his wife, regardless of whether or not she was going to pay attention to him, but Dimitri had invited him to come eat with us.

The staff food hall was significantly better stocked that the student one I'd used to eat in, and Dimitri and I hadn't held back. At some point, balancing food had turned into a playful competition, one that Christian watched with irritation.

"Maybe you should visit the feeders," I mentioned casually, watching him push food around his plate.

"Are you saying I'm grumpy because I'm hungry?" he snapped.

I sipped the soda I'd grabbed from a vending machine and made more meaningful eye contact with Dimitri. He ducked his head and started on his potatoes.

"Just making an observation," I mumbled past the smile I was trying to hide.

"Well, I suggest you shove your observations up your fucki–"

"Hey, Rose!"

Christian finished his line of expletives as Austin Dombroski, one of the Guardian's I'd trained with, approached our table.

I looked up at him, dumbfounded. He'd always been a weedy kid for a dhampir, but in the last four years he'd grown. Damn, he'd grown. Where he used to be shorter than my five foot nine, he now easily cleared six feet, and it looked like he'd finally earned those muscles the rest of us barely had to work for.

We hadn't really been that close during highschool, but when I stood to greet him, he pulled me into a bear hug that left me stunned. It felt like being pressed up against a warm brick wall. I almost wanted to put my hands on his pecs to check if they were really that solid.

"Hi Austin, how are you?" I managed from within my cage in his arms.

"Great, how are you? I heard you got your posting with Lissa – Queen's guard, hey?" He released me and held me at an arms length. I felt like he could throw me into a wall with a casual flick of his wrist. Now that I could see his face, I could admire how he'd grown into that as well.

If he'd looked like this back in highschool, he wouldn't have had half as much trouble getting dates.

"Yeah, I am. You're posted at the Academy?"

He shrugged. "I didn't get the greatest marks in trials," he admitted. "But it turned out pretty great. I've just come back from a trip to Court – obviously I just missed you."

I was surprised that he'd apparently planned on looking me up – we'd really barely known each other. We'd sparred a few times in class, and I'd always wiped the floor with him.

"Yeah, I came down last week with Liss," I explained feebly, still trying to work through the shock of his transformation. I turned to Christian and Dimitri, both of whom were patiently waiting for their introduction. "You probably remember Christian Ozera, and Dimitri Belikov."

Austin shook both of their hands, and pulled up the spare chair. "Yeah, we had home ec. together," he mentioned to Christian. Christian looked doubtful. Austin turned to Dimitri. "And you're… well, you're Guardian Belikov, obviously." There was just a hint of childish excitement in his voice that he couldn't reign in. He shook Dimitri's hand vigorously. "I was always jealous that Rose got private sessions with you."

Christian snorted into his salad and I kicked him under the table.

"Maybe we could spar sometime?" he was asking hopefully.

"Of course," Dimitri answered congenially. "Any time."

For a moment I was concerned Austin was going to take him literally, and ask for a fight in the cafeteria, but it turned out he had a different kind of spar in mind. "Well, we're about to head to the rec room and play some pool." He gestured over his broad shoulder to another young Guardian that hovered by the salad, obviously waiting for Austin. "Do you guys want to tag along?"

"Oh, no thanks," Christian answered, even though the question obviously wasn't directed at him. "I've got to go spend some time with Lissa."

"Yeah, I heard you two got married, congrats." Austin turned his attention back to Dimitri and I. "What about you guys? We could play teams."

I smirked at Dimitri. "I don't know if you want to do that," I warned playfully, "we make a pretty great team."

"Perfect you might actually be a challenge." I'm sure Austin didn't mean to goad me on, but I straightened in my seat and watched the look of resignation steal over Dimitri's face.

"We're in," I told Austin, clambering to my feet. I hadn't finished my meal, which I looked at forlornly for only a moment, before sacrificing it for the glory of winning snooker. As much as it pained me to admit it, I probably couldn't have finished it anyway.

Christian and Dimitri stood as well, with Christian smirking as though he'd come out ahead in this conversation.

We said our goodbyes and followed Austin and his friend Ian to the staff rec room.

I hadn't realized that the staff area was as cool as it was. I'd been expecting something similar to the student rec rooms – an old, shabby couch, some beanbags and a T.V. But this room was on another level.

There were a few lounges (that didn't look like they'd seen a lifetime of randy, bare-assed teenagers), and a huge wall-mounted flat screen in the corner, a few arm chairs with side tables stacked with books in the centre of the room, and a well looked after pool table at the back.

I shot Dimitri an accusing look, and he shook his head indulgently.

The room only had a few people in it, including Stan, who was heavily immersed in a crime novel. Nobody looked up at our entrance, and we followed Austin and Ian to the back.

"You know how to play?" Austin checked.

I rolled my eyes. "I wouldn't have come up here if I didn't."

He threw a meek glance at Dimitri, who shrugged. "I've played once or twice."

I tried to keep a straight face. Two years ago he'd hustled Christian so badly that they didn't speak for three days, even after Dimitri gave him all his money back. Christian admitted it was a matter of pride, and had refused to play any game of skill with Dimitri ever since.

Not that I blamed him. Dimitri had been through a shady patch during his late teenage years, and as a result had a lot of morally dubious but useful skills. Like hot-wiring cars, picking locks and hustling pool.

He was yet to impart any of his wisdom to me, despite my constant nagging.

Austin set up the table for a game of 8-ball as we selected cues and chalked up.

"Your break?" he offered, gesturing to me.

I took up position at the head of the table and lined up my shot carefully. I hadn't been entirely truthful about Dimitri not imparting his fraudulent wisdom. He had taught me a few things about hustling pool after Christian had stormed out – things that had gotten out of control pretty quickly when we realized the table was the _perfect_ height for a different kind of sinning.

I smiled, hoping Dimitri was thinking the same thing and enjoying the view of my ass.

I took the shot, dispersing the balls easily around the table and sinking the seven. I allowed myself a little victory fist pump and made my way around the table to take my second shot.

"You're going to regret this, boys," I warned them with a grin.

I made a call for eleven into the corner pocket because it was the easiest shot available, and sunk it without a problem. Austin and Ian didn't seem concerned as I took my next shot and missed.

Austin stepped up for his shot next and sank three balls in quick succession before he fouled by striking a ball from our group first.

I wanted Dimitri to end the game – I knew he probably could, given the cue ball was in a good position – but he was playing casually. There was no money on the table, and I knew it went against all of his pool-hustling instincts to win a game he wasn't betting on.

" _This is only the beginning,"_ I remembered him telling me, his hands burning as the brushed under my shirt. _"You've got to lure them in."_

"Not today, Comrade," I whispered to myself, clutching my cue tightly. "Just win the damn game…"

Where we both had that spark of competitiveness, Dimitri was also tempered with patience. He called his shot, and missed.

Austin grinned and offered him consolation. "If you haven't played that much, it can be tricky."

I made a noise of disgust.

While Ian and Austin gloated over the easy shot they were about to make, Dimitri moved over to where I stood. He reached for my waist, instinctively going to pull me against him, but caught himself just in time. We were in a casual setting, and it was too easy to forget that we weren't supposed to be touching each other the way we usually did.

I watched him slip his hand into his pocket with disappointment.

It seemed to take forever until it was my turn again, with Ian sinking every shot he called until they only had one ball left on the table before they could take shots at the 8 ball. Dimitri looked on, impressed. I was tempted to slap him.

"This is your fault," I hissed at him as I went to take my turn. His only answer was an expression of bewildered amusement.

We still had six balls on the table, and although that left our opponents in a tight spot with limited maneuverability, it also left us miles behind. Determined to clear the table, I called my shots without the good humour I'd possessed at the start of the game.

I sank two balls before I missed the fifteen, sending it ricocheting off the rail. I cursed, but Austin whooped. I'd left the cue ball in the perfect position for him to make his shot.

He stepped up to the table and waited for the fifteen to stop its lazy rotation, then sank their final ball. I thanked God that the 8 ball wasn't lined up with any pockets – if he was going to make this shot, it was going to be pure luck. I gave Dimitri a murderous look, and stalked over to his side.

"Win it," I hissed. There was no way I was losing anything to Austin Dombrosky.

Austin's luck didn't hold out, and he missed the 8 ball shot. Dimitri smiled at me. "There's no money on the table," he reminded me quietly.

I scowled. "Do I look like I give a damn?" I asked him as he moved to the other side of the table.

Austin and Ian exchanged a confused look, but overall they were pretty impressed with themselves. They thought they had this in the bag – after all, there was no reason for them to suspect that Dimitri was playing them more than the game. As far as they were concerned, he'd be lucky to sink one or two balls, and they would be free to take their final shot. The 8 ball was sitting inches away from the lip of a corner pocket, and they wold be hard pressed to miss.

Austin and Ian were standing behind Dimitri, so they couldn't see the easy smile on his face as he called the most difficult shot on the table.

I caught his attention, my arms crossed, and gave him a warning glare. _Don't fuck this up_.

He didn't. Maybe it was in fear of my wrath, but he sank the ball perfectly.

"Wow, what a… lucky shot," Ian commented doubtfully.

I held back my smile as Dimitri answered. "I've always been lucky."

I knew he was itching to make a bet on his next shots, but he didn't. In a few seconds, only the 8 ball was left in its corner, and the cue ball was cushioned against the same rail at the opposite end of the table. Ian and Austin were squinting down the table, lining up the shot themselves. It wasn't going to be an easy one, and I rolled my eyes thinking about how Dimitri had even put himself in this situation. His last shot had been a little showy.

With the boys crowded around one end of the table, I opted for the other side. Dimitri called his shot, lined it up, then caught my gaze. I narrowed my eyes, daring him to miss. With a smile and a cheeky wink, he took the shot without even looking.

My heart almost stopped, but true to form, Dimitri sank it.

I let out a whoop of excitement that was way overzealous for winning a game of pool and raced around the table to kiss him.

By the time I remembered that we were acting casual here, it was almost too late. There was a millisecond of hesitation, standing on my toes with my arms wrapped around his neck, before I adjusted my aim and planted the kiss on his cheek instead.

Austin and Ian didn't seem to notice, although Austin did watch the kiss a little more closely than his friend.

I hoped it just looked like two close friends – with maybe one who was a little over-affectionate when she won things.

Dimitri patted my back awkwardly, like you'd pat a dog's head. We pulled away from each other quickly.

"If you're offering kisses to the winner, maybe we should play again sometime," Austin joked. There was a flirty undertone to his words that made Dimitri's fingers tighten microscopically around his cue, and he turned to place it back on the rack.

"Maybe, but that was a pretty spectacular win," I bragged, careful to keep my tone casual. I'd flirted with everyone, back in the day. "You'd have to do something to impress me."

Stan had looked up from his book, and had obviously been watching the end of our raucous game. "Interesting victory lap you have, Hathaway," he commented slyly. He looked between Dimitri and I, just a hint of curious speculation in his eyes. "When's the wedding?"

My heart stuttered to a stop before I realised he was teasing - mostly. "August," I replied easily. "It'll be a simple affair, just the Queen and the royal court, maybe a few hundred peacocks."

Stan chuckled and turned back to his novel. Apparently any doubts about our strictly friendly relationship had been eased.

Dimitri shot me a wide eyed look while Austin and Ian re-racked the balls.

"I hope you were joking about the peacocks," he muttered.

"I hope I was joking about the court."

Ian offered us another game, his gaze fixed suspiciously on Dimitri, but I declined. "I think Lissa has something planned for tomorrow, so I'll probably be on duty again pretty early."

"No rest for the wicked," Stan shot over the top of his book.

I stuck my tongue out at him, pretty sure I was safe from his wrath if he couldn't see me. I'd made more obscene gestures in the past when his back was turned.

Dimitri managed to wiggle out of another game as well, but had to promise he was up for a rematch next week.

The sun was up by the time we made it outside, but it offered little warmth. We crunched through the snow in comfortable silence, making our meandering way back to the Guardian dorms.

"You up for a detour?" I asked, not ready to surrender the sunlight.

"Always."

I waited until we were in the trees, the dappled sunlight not as satisfying as it was in the open, but I'd traded it for privacy. "Lissa and Christian have a theory about the Mana," I began, slipping my hand into his. His fingers were rough and warm, and he tightened them encouragingly around mine. "They think there's a Spirit user behind it, compelling people to forget everything."

I expected him to brush it off like I had, but he walked in contemplative silence for a while. "Well that would make sense," he said at last.

I looked at him, bewildered. "How? The compulsion required isn't _that_ strong."

"It's not about compelling people to forget a beating every two weeks," he said with a shake of his head. "That's pretty easy. What if there is a Spirit user, and they're not just compelling students, but the Guardians as well?"

"None of the Guardians have shown any sign of compulsion," I pointed out, annoyed that someone else was buying into this. "And why would the Mana need to compel them?"

"We haven't been looking for it. And it would make sense. We haven't been able to find a trace of the Mana, or link anyone to it. If there was someone using compulsion to make us overlook things, or forget a conversation here and there…"

"… then they wouldn't have to be Spirit users either," I finished stubbornly. "I know that some Moroi _really_ suck at compulsion – like Christian – but most of the Mana last time were pretty good at it. I saw them to convince people to do all kinds of stuff for them."

"Compelling that many Guardians would be one hell of a task," he argued. "If they were _all_ good at compulsion and only took on one guardian each, then maybe they could pull it off, but I think it would be more likely that there's a Spirit user here."

"We don't know that they're even using compulsion to interfere with the Guardians, maybe they're just good at covering their tracks." Dimitri looked unconvinced, so I huffed and changed tactics. "Fine, if there _is_ a Spirit user, then how come we don't know about them? We've been watching kids that don't specialise. Kirova's probably got a list of them in her office, and those are sent to Lissa every six months. She hasn't received any reports of a kid in St Vlad's not specialising."

I prepared myself for the same argument that Lissa had presented me with – transfers, and schools not keeping proper records - even the possibility of a student too young to be registered as someone that hadn't specialised. I'd marshalled my arguments about advanced elemental classes, and the odds of a kid that young being in charge in anticipation, but what he said next left me speechless.

"Maybe it's not a student."

I gawked at him as the implication of his words hit me.

"There are plenty of new teachers here that I've never met," he said thoughtfully. "And we know that members of the Mana don't always grow out of it."

"You can't possibly think a _teacher_ is telling students to torture each other?" I hissed, tugging his hand closer to my side.

He shrugged. "Anything is possible."

"That's insane," I breathed. But it made sense. "Well, we can rule out the elemental teachers. But we've seen with Avery how easily someone can hide Spirit." Dimitri nodded, even though he'd never met Avery. "It could be anyone."

"Not the old staff," Dimitri amended. "They saw what happened last time, and no one in their right mind would want that to happen again. Also, I watched plenty of them wield magic in the year I was here."

"But you're right," I said despairingly. "There's a buttload of new staff here. I don't even recognise half the guardians. When did this place get such a high staff turnover rate?"

"When Strigoi broke the wards and killed thirty of them."

I acknowledge his point with a quick squeeze of my hand. "How are we going to figure out who it is?"

"We'll just have to watch them," he answered, lifting his face to the sun as we walked under a clearing in the canopy. "Closely."

I shook my head and laughed at how cloak and dagger we were getting, and Dimitri smiled at the sound, pulling me to a stop. We were still in the sunlight, but the warmth was only slight, and I shivered in the stillness.

"Come here," Dimitri urged, wrapping his arms around me. We were obscured from the main campus by the trees, and I leaned against him to soak up his heat.

"You could offer me your coat," I chided lightheartedly.

A laughed rumbled in his chest. "But then I wouldn't have an excuse to hold you."

"You've always got an excuse to hold me," I reminded him. "You're marrying me."

"Without that ring on your finger, sometimes I forget," he teased.

"I promise once it goes back on it's never coming off."

"I don't think it would be hugely comfortable for either of us if you wore it while we sparred."

"You know what I mean," I accused, turning my face up to his. His eyes were bright with good humour, and his expression openly filled with affection. I'd been missing that look lately. "Kiss me."

He indulged me, dropping soft, sweet kisses onto my lips until I smiled under his attentions.

"Like this?" he asked lightly.

"No," I muttered, "like this."

I pulled his lips back down to mine and kissed him fiercely, my body shamelessly melting against him. He responded enthusiastically, his hands moving down my back to cup my ass and squeeze at my curves. He lifted me easily and I wrapped my legs around him, one hand working on the buttons of his shirt impatiently.

"We should move this somewhere more appropriate," he mumbled against my lips after a few more heated kisses.

"This is appropriate," I breathed back, nipping at his bottom lip gently. "Don't you think?"

He shuddered, and resumed kissing me feverishly, his arms locking around my waist and his tongue tracing my lips, begging entry that I granted him eagerly. The fingers of my free hand tunnelled into his silky hair, my whole body craving the feeling of him naked against me. Every part of me burned and ached for the pleasure we'd been denying ourselves, for something as simple as him gasping my name, and the feeling of his hot, silky skin against mine. I craved the feeling of his cock, heavy and throbbing in my hand while I teased him, the taste of him on my tongue. The sound of those careless moans, slipping from his lips into the heat around us... I wanted his pleasure under my control to repay the arrogant challenge he offered me with those beautiful smiles and subtle touches.

God, I wanted to tear his clothes of and fuck him in the snow.

I only had three buttons undone when he stopped me again, his breathing hot and uneven against my neck.

"You should come home with me," he whispered, smiling at his turn of phrase.

"But what will people think?" I asked playfully, his lips on my throat wreaking havoc with my pulse.

"Who knows, but I swear I'll marry you afterwards."

"All the boys say that."

He set me down on my feet, but we stayed impossibly close. His mischievous smile was infectious. "I'm not like the other boys."

He pressed another searing kiss to my lips and I caved. "Alright, Guardian Belikov, take me home."

He took my hand again and pulled me through the trees, heading in the general direction of the Guardian dorm. He was in quite a dishevelled state, between his half undone shirt and his tousled hair.

"You're gonna have to make yourself look less sexy," I told him when we reached the edge of the trees. "People will think we were up to something."

He smiled, but started rebuttoning his shirt. It was when he was on button two that we both heard the sounds coming from the woods behind us – it was soft, and carried to us on the wind, but there was no mistaking that we weren't alone in the trees.

We shared a quick look, and silently we started moving back under the canopy. Dimitri took the lead, hand on his stake, and I followed exactly in his footsteps.

The closer we moved, the more familiar the sound became. It was someone crying, and the sound was so full of fear that I had to tell myself rushing ahead might get us both killed. Not that it was likely, behind the wards, but it had happened before.

There were no obvious threats when we broke into the clearing – only a Moroi girl, hugging her knees to her chest as she lay in the snow, her clothes and hair soaked. Dimitri didn't take his hand of his stake, but we moved quickly to her side.

"Are you alright?" I asked the girl, dropping to my knees in front of her. She heaved an ugly sob into the snow and gasped for breath, but didn't answer. I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and almost pulled back when I felt how cold she was.

Dimitri helped me pull her into a sitting position, and she tightened her arms around her knees, her face hidden. The state of her clothing was worse than I'd first thought – her heavy winter clothes were torn and burned, buttons missing from her blouse to reveal the thin tank top she wore underneath. I wanted to hold her, to comfort her, my fierce instinct to protect the helpless kicking in.

Dimitri shed his duster, even though he only wore his button down underneath, and draped it over her shoulders.

"What's your name?" I asked gently, touching the back of her hand.

She flinched away from me and her sobs grew louder and more fearful. Frustrated, I pulled back.

"My name is Rose. I'm a Guardian. I'm here to help you."

That caught her attention. She didn't seem entirely convinced, but she lifted her head and cracked open her eyes to peer at me. Her face was covered in cuts and burns, and I hissed at the depth of one of the lacerations, running from her ear to her chin.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I reassured her, touching her hand again. "What's your name?"

"A-Anna," she sobbed, quietly now. I recognised her as the friend of the senior Novice, Maria.

"Anna, we've got to get you to the infirmary. Can you walk?"

She shook her head, her sobs hiccoughing from her lips in violent bursts.

"This is Dimitri," I told her softly, and she turned her head the tiniest amount to see him, crouched beside her. "He's a Guardian too. He's going to carry you. Is that alright?"

Anna sobbed for another moment then nodded once. Dimitri pulled her carefully into his arms, making sure his duster was wrapped around her tightly. She turned her face into his chest, and his eyes lingered on the same cut on her cheek that I'd seen.

He gave me a sombre look as we started quickly back through the trees, and I thought about the deal I'd made with Lissa. It looked like we'd be staying through Christmas break.

The Mana hadn't gone after all.


	7. Chapter 7

**So I now have a tumblr where I'm going to post drabble stuff, if people follow. You should come find me; overworkedandprocrastinating. tumblr .com**

 **Also, still successfully procrastinating that assessment worth 60% of my grade. Thank you all for being a part of that.**

 **A bit of a filler chapter, I guess.**

I'd been hoping my weekend was going to be relaxing – some part of me had even been hoping to spend some naughty hours hidden away with Dimitri – but those hopes were dashed when Lissa heard about Anna.

"This has to stop!" she told me passionately on Saturday morning, her fist coming down onto the desk. "We have to find the Spirit user before anyone else gets hurt!"

" _Alleged_ spirit user," I corrected. Christian rolled his eyes and Dimitri's lips twitched into a small smile. I was still the only one against the Spirit user theory, regardless of how much sense it made.

Lissa threw herself into the desk chair, exhaling sharply. "How are we going to find them?" she demanded. We'd told our charges about Dimitri's teacher theory, and Lissa had instantly taken is as gospel even though she'd been a little miffed she hadn't thought of it herself.

I shrugged. "We could drag you around campus and you could take a look at all their auras," I suggested.

"That would take forever, and we'd arouse suspicion," Christian argued from his spot on the divan.

"Who cares if people get suspicious?" I retorted. "We're looking for the person responsible for this mess."

"If there's a Spirit user here and they've been practicing their magic for a long time, they might be able to hide their auras," Lissa explained, shaking her head at both of us. "Adrian's almost got the hang of it himself, and I'm really not that good at reading them."

"Why would they bother? There's no one at this school besides you that would be able to recognise them," I asserted. "They're probably not wasting their energy."

"We could call a staff meeting," Dimitri suggested from beside me. "That way we could get most of the Moroi teachers in one place at the same time. If they do know how to hide their aura, all we've done is waste an afternoon. If they don't, then we've got them."

Lissa considered it. "What would we call the meeting for?" she asked eventually.

"The Mana attacks. Bring the teachers together and give them a spiel about being hypervigilant, watching the kids in their classes… that kind of thing. It's pretty common, I'm sure they've already had a few meetings like that this month."

Lissa nodded. "I'll speak with Kirova this afternoon. I also want to speak to Alberta."

"Why?" I cocked my head, trying to imagine what more the campus Guardian's could do to help.

"Because you said that Anna had a novice friend," Lissa explained, like it was obvious. "We've been overlooking the novices this whole time, but they're a huge asset. They've got Moroi friends and they're way more likely to know when one of them is acting suspiciously, or disappearing for 'after school activities'. Besides, you were the first one to get one of the Mana to talk last time – they're more likely to talk to other students than they are to teachers."

"I'm sure Alberta has already asked the Novices to come forward if they know something," Dimitri said, frowning.

"That's different from actually involving them," I disagreed, seeing Lissa's point. "I wouldn't have come forward with the information I had – I knew some of those kids, and I wasn't about to dob them in on some baseless suspicion."

"You didn't know what the Mana was capable of," Dimitri argued. "If you'd known the risks, you would have told someone. We can't get novices involved as agents in something like this. They're too young."

"In six months those novices are going to be Guardians, and in a year half of them will be dead," I retorted. "What are some Moroi going to do to them that they can't live through?"

"What if they hurt a Moroi? We saw what happened to Eddie when it was self defense! What happens if one of those Novices gets carried away, and someone actually ends up dead?"

"Better one Moroi life than thirty," I said hotly. "Besides, we both know there's only a slim chance of something like that happening."

"Slim chance or not, it's not happening," Dimitri snapped. "The Guardians will take care of it, and the Novices can help by coming forward with information – _not_ by pursuing leads."

I wanted to stamp my foot or yell about how unfair it was, forgetting at some point in this argument that I was no longer a Novice and he was no longer my mentor. We were inches apart, staring each other down furiously. We'd both forgotten we weren't alone, with Lissa and Christian looking on in stunned silence. They'd seen Dimitri lose his cool in one or two of our public arguments, but it was still a rare event.

"I think Rose is right," Lissa offered timidly. Regardless of how close she and Dimitri had gotten since his transformation back into a dhampir, the man was fucking intimidating when he was angry. "I want to speak to Alberta about involving the Novices."

Dimitri huffed and ran a hand over his face. "She won't do it."

"I'm still going to talk to her," Lissa said, her words growing stronger. "It's been weeks since these incidences started. Obviously the Guardians need some help, and the Novices are the best chance we've got at figuring this out quickly."

I smiled smugly, but didn't flaunt my victory. I could feel the tension rolling off Dimitri in waves, and I didn't want to get into another argument in front of our friends. I'd probably push his buttons later though.

"So," I began, turning to face Lissa, "when are we going to set this staff meeting?"

* * *

Kirova begrudgingly called a staff meeting for the following Tuesday – a long time, as far as we were concerned. It only gave us nine days until Christmas break to figure out who our Spirit user was, and the after school timeslot made it impossible for me to attend. I was on ward rounds Tuesday afternoon. Thrilling.

Sunday passed at an agonisingly slow rate – I even slept in until about midday, but it did nothing to ease the restlessness that had me pacing my room impatiently, wishing there was something I could do to keep my mind busy. Dimitri had been on shift Saturday night and had gotten back late. He'd texted me a sweet message before he'd gone to sleep at ten in the morning, and I'd resisted the urge to go jump into bed with him. He actually did have to sleep.

He'd always been the kind of Guardian that sacrificed his own time for the sake of doing the job. It was something I admired in a colleague, but not so much in a boyfriend. I'd managed to convince him over the last few years that he should be coming home no later than an hour after he was officially rostered to leave, but now that he wasn't coming home to me, he'd fallen back into old habits.

I wasn't looking forward to trying to break them again.

I dropped by Lissa's in the evening, and felt a strong surge of sympathy for Christian, who was flipping through one of his newspapers again with a dead look in his eyes. Lissa was conferencing to her aides at court, and damn, she looked tired.

Even though Lehigh was officially on break, Lissa had her hands fuller than ever – running a monarchy from a bedroom in your old high school _and_ trying to weed out an insidious torture organisation was bound to take its toll on anyone.

I took a long look at both of my friends, and made an executive decision. I snapped Lissa's laptop shut, cutting off the high pitched voice of one of her Aides. Lissa looked surprised, but she made no move to reopen the laptop.

"How long has it been since you went outside?" I demanded.

"Um…"

"I thought so. Sparky, get your ass into gear, we're going shopping."

Christian deflated.

I made the necessary calls, the first one being to Abramova. There really wasn't a 'head guard' of the Queens Guard, but Abramova was our universally recognised leader. As much as I thought _I_ was a badass, Abramova put me to shame. I was yet to beat her hand to hand, although I knew I was a lot closer than any of the other Guardians. She and Dimitri had never sparred, both of them claiming they'd like to keep the mystery alive. My money was on Dimitri.

Abramova sorted out a few Guardians to come along with us – predominantly campus Guardians, but there were a few members of the Queens Guard as well.

Once I'd convinced Christian to get off the divan, I herded the two royals out the door and across campus, where Abramova had arranged for cars to meet us.

"This was fast," Lissa remarked. She was smiling easily for the first time in days, and I knew I'd made the right call.

"I said it was a matter of the Queen's mental health," I informed her, distractedly counting the amount of Guardians we'd pulled.

We wanted Lissa to be safe, but we also didn't want anyone to notice our group. There were six casually dressed guardians waiting for us, including Dimitri, who had obviously volunteered. I wondered if he'd done that to get some time with us, or if he was just trying to keep busy.

Another Guardian that had volunteered was Austin, and when he saw me approaching his handsome face broke into a broad grin.

"Figures it would be you pulling a stunt like this," he called when we were within earshot. "A last minute Sunday shopping trip?"

"Well, we've got to get that Christmas shopping done and dusted," I answered easily. I opened the door for Lissa and Christian to climb in to the SUV. There was a sedan parked behind it that would take whichever Guardians weren't going to fit in with us. To my great disappointment, Dimitri ended up driving the sedan.

The drive to the closest mall was the same one Lissa and I had visited in our senior year with Victor Dashkov. It was a two hour drive to Missoula, but Lissa hadn't lost her enthusiasm when we arrived. Christian hadn't perked up either. I was sure he'd prefer to be at home, with his wife's undivided attention.

I sniffed as he hopped out of the car and gave me an exasperatingly accusatory look. Really, he should be thanking me. I'd saved him from hours of certain boredom.

We rushed Lissa and Christian into the shade – it was probably only nine, but the sun was pretty strong for winter – and awaited the arrival of Dimitri. His passenger had ended up being Austin, which had seemed to be quite a disappointment for the young Guardian.

When their car pulled up moments after ours, Dimitri rushed out of the car, his eyes narrowed infinitesimally. He closed the car door with a tiny bit more force than usual, and moved towards us quickly.

To anyone else, it might have seemed perfectly ordinary behaviour. But I had known Dimitri for years, and if anyone had learned to read him better than me, I'd yet to meet them. He was pissed.

Austin tagged along after him cheerfully, oblivious to his companion's stoic irritation.

We arranged near and far guards pretty quickly – Austin and I would stay close to Lissa and Christian because we were all the same age. The other Guardians broke off into groups and hovered within a reasonable distance, maintaining a low profile, pretending to chat casually as their eyes darted here and there surreptitiously.

"Where should we start?" Lissa gushed. Her mood had improved so significantly that even Christian couldn't help perk up a little.

We ended up starting in clothing stores, much to the chagrin of the boys.

Lissa was in her element, and relaxing for the first time in months. It lifted a weight off my chest to see her so happy. Even though it wasn't my fault, I always felt guilty when I couldn't lighten her mood, or relieve the stress she was under. Well, not _entirely_ my fault. Ihad basically been responsible for her accidental appointment as Queen.

We flipped through racks of clothing, but I wasn't paying attention. I was checking in with the other Guardians every two minutes or so, despite the ear piece working perfectly. Not for the first time, I was a little envious of Lissa's life.

She chatted away to me as we strolled from store to store, leaving Christian and Austin to reminisce about the old home ec. days. Christian was just barely pretending to be interested, but Austin had no trouble keeping the conversation rolling. He seemed like a friendly guy, but I thought he was a little _too_ relaxed. I'd noticed the lack of molnija marks on his neck, and even though I tried not to hold that against him, I thought it might have something to do with his vaguely careless attitude.

Not that I was too concerned – Christian could very much take care of himself.

"Ooh, Rose, I should buy you a gift card for Christmas!" Lissa gushed, distracting me.

I held back my snippy reply about gift cards not really being presents and followed her pointing. Ah, Victoria Secret, my old friend.

"I've definitely got enough lingerie, Liss."

She gave me a dead serious look. "You've _never_ got enough lingerie."

Not that I was really going to disagree, but I wasn't keen on spending my Christmas gift from Lissa on something that would turn out to be more of a present for Dimitri.

She didn't make us go in, perhaps thinking about the predominantly male escort nonchalantly trailing along after us.

"God Rose, you're such a killjoy," Christian teased. I rolled my eyes, knowing I'd probably cost him the part of this trip he would have enjoyed the most. "Isn't she such a killjoy, Austin?"

Austin blushed and mumbled something incoherently at the ground.

Ending up at a jeweller was the inevitable end of our shopping trip two hours later. Lissa was starting to get tired, but she insisted on dropping by. Eerily, it was the same store Victor had purchased the rose necklace he'd used to charm Dimitri and I. Lissa was slipping a piece of paper across the counter, and whispering to a shop assistant.

"What are you up to?" I asked suspiciously, peering over her shoulder. I just caught a glimpse of the design drawn on the paper, and I got the distinct impression it had been the result of Christian's creative hand, and not only because I could see the Ozera family crest drawn in it.

Lissa hastily pushed the piece of paper into the assistant's hands. "Don't be so nosy," she chided. "It's not for you anyway."

By the time we made it back to the car, it was almost midnight – well, for us at least. The sun was high in the sky, and stronger than it had been this morning. Austin actively requested to drive back with Dimitri, and I watched the muscle in his jaw jump reflexively. He didn't argue, and we all piled into our respective cars for the long drive home.

I spent the two hours reminiscing about the last time we'd driven back to St Vlads after a shopping trip in Missoula, and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face when my mind started wandering nostalgically to all the secret moments Dimitri and I had shared during our time at the Academy. Lissa fell asleep against Christian, and I watched the trees flash by, pleasantly wrapped up in my own memories.

It was only when the cars were pulling up at the administration building that I realised I hadn't done any Christmas shopping at all.

Lissa piled up all of her purchases onto Christian while the other Guardians bade us farewell. Lissa thanked them individually, offering warm smiles to each that seemed to put them all in a pleasant mood. Eventually there were only five of us left – Austin was lingering by the sedan, engaged in what looked like a very serious discussion with Dimitri.

Dimitri, if possible, looked even more agitated than he had at the mall. Austin didn't seem oblivious to it, because he kept shaking his head, arguing in a low voice.

"If you two have nothing better to do than argue, maybe you can help us carry some of these bags," I called teasingly.

Austin cracked a smile, and something told me Dimitri _really_ wanted to knock it off his face. "Actually Rose, I was wondering if I could talk with you," Austin said, making his way over.

With Dimitri looking as murderous as he did, I didn't have to struggle to put two and two together. "How about I help Lissa carry this stuff to her room and we talk tomorrow?" I suggested casually.

He seemed embarrassed that I'd brushed him off, but mumbled agreement.

I pointedly didn't make any firm plans. "Anyway, see you around."

Dimitri grabbed a couple of bags off Christian, who was looking dangerously like he was about to tip over, and the four of us started on our way back to the guest dorms.

"Wow, I wonder what he could possibly want to talk to you about, Rose," Christian drawled sarcastically. Dimitri scowled beside him. "I bet it's about how exciting shopping is."

"Don't be cruel," Lissa reprimanded. "He's nice."

Dimitri and Christian seemed to be in perfect agreement that 'nice' wasn't the word they wanted to use.

"Besides, he's had a crush on Rose since forever," she continued. "It takes a lot of courage to tell someone something like that."

"What do you mean he's had a crush on me since forever?" I demanded. "We didn't even know each other!"

"No, _you_ didn't know _him_ ," she amended. "But believe me, his aura crackles all over the place every time you speak to him. That's not the kind of crush that develops overnight."

"He did spend the entire drive talking about you," Dimitri admitted.

"How romantic," Christian mocked. "Dimitri, you might have to fight him to the death."

Despite himself, Dimitri smiled.

"It doesn't matter how he feels," I grumbled. "I'd rather not be having that conversation tomorrow. What will I even say to him?"

"You've turned down guys before," Lissa said flippantly. "I have faith in you."

We dropped Lissa and Christian at their door before turning back to the Guardian dorms. Dimitri seemed in a better mood, but just to be safe I didn't bring up Austin again.

It was Dimitri who couldn't let the subject go as we moved down the hall to our rooms. "What are you going to say to him?" he asked.

I threw my hands in the air helplessly. "I don't know. I'll just tell him I'm not interested."

"That's what I kept telling him," he said, his voice faintly laced with amusement.

"You spent four hours telling him I wouldn't be interested?" I asked. No wonder he'd looked so pissed off.

"Three. The first hour he just kept talking about how great you were."

"I am pretty great."

We'd stopped at my door, and Dimitri gave me a slow, heated smile. "You are," he admitted. The hallway wasn't that wide, but Dimitri was still standing close enough to me that it would spark suspicion if anyone saw us.

He wasn't touching me, but my skin prickled under his hot gaze. Where usually his teasing was a little aimless, or playful, tonight it was dark and dangerously intense.

"Do you want to come in?" I asked, my voice low.

"Definitely."

* * *

 **Quick vote; next chapter I'm caught between a 2000ish word lemon/lime piece, or jumping straight to Tuesday for the sake of plot. Let me know which you'd prefer.**


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